KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 — Bursa Malaysia ended trading on a weaker note today due to broad-based profit-taking throughout the session, following three days of consecutive gains.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 3.19 points to 1,552.40 from Tuesday’s close of 1,555.59, after paring some of its earlier losses on the recovery in the financial sector.

The benchmark index opened 1.49 points lower at 1,554.10 and moved between 1,547.49 and 1,554.95 throughout the day.

The market breadth was negative with losers surpassing gainers 652 to 385, while 459 counters were unchanged, 801 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Turnover narrowed slightly to 3.65 billion units worth RM2.71 billion from Tuesday’s 3.68 billion units worth RM2.94 billion.

Head of wealth research and advisory, designated portfolio manager at UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors, Mohd Sedek Jantan said domestic selling was also influenced by profit-taking activities in Wall Street ahead of Nvidia’s results and the release of United States Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes tonight.

Investors are awaiting the US Federal Reserve to shed light on inflation measures despite the widely expected delay in the interest rate cut.

Despite this volatility, he said the local bourse’s ability to maintain its performance remained solid and is set to continue marching to the 1,600 level.

“Over the past two days, foreign buyers have become net buyers, and we anticipate this momentum to continue amid the ongoing earnings season, expecting an improved performance from corporations in the fourth quarter of 2023,” he told Bernama.

Index-linked heavyweights Public Bank improved three sen to RM4.51, while Maybank, Sime Darby Plantation and Tenaga Nasional bagged two sen each to RM9.53, RM4.52 and RM11.38 respectively.

The telecommunications counters remained the main laggards with Axiata losing 10 sen to RM2.79, CelcomDigi easing six sen to RM4.31, and Maxis dropping seven sen to RM3.79.

As for the actives, Hong Seng, MMAG and Dialog were unchanged at 2.0 sen, 11 sen and RM2.20 respectively, while MY EG dipped one sen to 78 sen and Reneuco rose two sen to 9.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 27.38 points to 11,521.83, the FBMT 100 Index shed 22.65 points to 11,175.97, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 43.12 points to 11,582.81, the FBM 70 Index slid 30.20 points to 15,515.67, and the FBM ACE Index fell 43.11 points to 4,837.49.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index put on 21.95 points to 17,376.16, the Plantation Index dipped 14.50 points to 7,328.86, the Energy Index was 12.18 points lower at 934.77, and the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.14 of-a-point to 177.66, while the Properties Index lost 12.03 points to 924.87.

The Main Market volume declined to 2.14 billion units valued at RM2.47 billion from Tuesday’s 2.46 billion units valued at RM2.70 billion.

Warrants turnover, however, soared to 1.09 billion units worth RM139.40 million from 653.32 million units worth RM94.67 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume dwindled to 421.72 million shares worth RM98.73 million from 543.82 million shares worth RM138.19 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 378.42 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (359.63 million); construction (127.52 million); technology (367.72 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (96.83 million); property (304.68 million); plantation (33.69 million); REITs (19.77 million), closed/fund (47,400); energy (211.47 million); healthcare (84.80 million); telecommunications and media (48 million); transportation and logistics (20.13 million); and utilities (91.62 million). — Bernama