KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — Bursa Malaysia gave up modest gains in early trade to end at its intra-day low today, weighed by profit-taking in selected heavyweights led by financial services and plantation counters.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 6.48 points to 1,581.48 from yesterday’s close of 1,587.96.

The index opened 1.55 points better at 1,589.51 today and moved between 1,581.48 and 1,590.77 throughout the session.

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 640 to 367, while 464 counters were unchanged, 677 untraded, and 21 others suspended.

Turnover fell to 6.00 billion units worth RM3.20 billion from 6.71 billion units valued at RM4.11 billion on Tuesday.

An analyst said the easier Bursa performance was also in line with the downtrend seen in most regional markets, amid the mixed performance of the US stock markets overnight, due to lack of clear market catalysts which kept investors on the sidelines.

He said Wall Street remained stuck in a narrow range as traders still had a "wait and see” attitude ahead of the US economic data release.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.35 per cent to 28,860.80, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.13 per cent to 28,742.63, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index was 0.43 per cent lower at 3,153.47.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI closed 0.41 per cent lower on Wednesday with Sime Darby Plantation being the biggest loser declining 3.0 per cent while rubber glove makers such as Hartalega and Top Glove both gained 1.3 per cent to emerge the major gainers.

"Overall, sentiment was mixed as investors took cue from China’s Producer price inflation which continued to surge and reach its highest level since September 2008 in May this year on the back of a further rise in global commodity prices.

"At the same time, investors were concerned if the US inflation (to be announced on Thursday) were to face the same fate by recording a higher growth which could lead to a removal of stimulus by the US Federal Reserve,” he told Bernama.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.20, Public Bank eased seven sen to RM4.20, and PChem inched down one sen to RM8.05.

Among actives, Focus Dynamics fell half-a-sen to four sen, Serba Dinamik added half-a-sen to 62.5 sen, and YGL bagged three sen to 27 sen.

Top losers included Nestle which slid RM1.20 to RM134.80, F&N trimmed 46 sen to RM26.30, and Greatech erased 41 sen to RM5.39.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 55.66 points to 11,526.61, the FBMT 100 Index erased 56.97 points to 11,214.58, and the FBM ACE trimmed 44.59 points to 7,667.81.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 60.84 points to 12,668.87 and the FBM 70 weakened 118.45 points to 14,903.27.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 66.91 points to 15,295.51, the Industrial Products and Services Index went down 1.38 points to 192.29, and the Plantation Index declined 65.81 points to 6,751.22.

Main Market volume fell to 3.37 billion shares worth RM2.59 billion from 4.93 billion shares worth RM3.63 billion recorded at Tuesday’s close.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 237.12 million units valued at RM27.64 million from 365.81 million units valued at RM48.91 million yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market rose to 2.39 billion shares worth RM578.96 million versus 1.41 billion shares worth RM432.65 million.

Consumer products and services accounted for 564.38 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.01 billion), construction (175.09 million), technology (508.85 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (59.22 million), property (287.21 million), plantation (18.92 million), REITs (12.23 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (479.73 million), healthcare (94.10 million), telecommunications and media (81.91 million), transportation and logistics (64.67 million) and utilities (19.77 million). — Bernama