KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today, driven by continued profit- taking in the industrial products and services as well as plantation counters amid mixed sentiments on the regional markets, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 11.38 points to 1,524.03 from yesterday’s close of 1,535.41.

Press Metal Aluminium shed 9.0 sen to RM5.31 while IOI Corp fell 10 sen to RM3.81, dragging the key index by a combined 2.30 points.

The FBM KLCI opened 0.14 of-a-point higher at 1,535.55 and fluctuated between 1,520.08 and 1,536.16 throughout the trading session.

However, the broader market was negative as decliners outpaced gainers 653 to 311, while 441 counters were unchanged, 872 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover was slightly higher at 3.11 billion units valued at RM2.39 billion from yesterday’s 3.10 billion units valued at RM2.13 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local equities closed lower after a lacklustre trading session as investors seemed reluctant to make more significant moves following the previous week’s selldown.

"Nonetheless, we viewed today’s selldown as a good opportunity for bargain-hunting as valuations of local equities remain attractive, particularly the blue chips.

"Moreover, with the Malaysia/Singapore border set to reopen by end-November, sentiments should further improve as the domestic economy gets better,” he told Bernama today.

Additionally, he said Brent crude remains above US$80 per barrel and he reckoned this as buying opportunity for local oil and gas (O&G) stocks.

"We expect the index to hover within the 1,530-1,550 range for the remainder of the week. Technically, immediate support is unchanged at 1,520, followed by the psychological support at 1,500 while resistance is at 1,565,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell 2.0 sen to RM7.99, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals shed 1.0 sen each to RM4.03 and RM8.29 respectively, while IHH Healthcare and Tenaga Nasional slipped 6.0 sen each to RM6.45 and RM9.61 respectively.

Of the actives, Eduspec eased half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, while Saudee Group, Lambo Group and KNM Group slipped 1.0 sen each to 6.5 sen, 5.5 sen and 20.5 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 75.76 points to 11,289.37, the FBMT 100 Index reduced 78.01 points to 10,919.58, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 100.41 points to 12,298.04, the FBM 70 slipped 93.06 points to 14,951.90, and the FBM ACE dipped 137.26 points to 6,916.57.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.18 point to 201.22, the Plantation Index gave up 77.30 points to 6,651.86, and the Financial Services Index shed 41.18 points to 15,130.11.

The Main Market volume declined to 1.99 billion shares worth RM2.07 billion from 2.06 billion shares worth RM1.79 billion yesterday. 

Warrants turnover decreased to 171.70 million units worth RM27.22 million versus 182.81 million units worth RM26.59 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market widened to 934.31 million shares valued at RM296.80 million from yesterday’s 848.27 million shares valued at RM313.23 million.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 451.88 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (621.40 million), construction (54.68 million), technology (262.34 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (70.05 million), property (159.89 million), plantation (19.68 million), REITs (3.73 million), closed/fund (15,000), energy (197.87 million), healthcare (53.38 million), telecommunications and media (36.60 million), transportation and logistics (55.40 million), and utilities (7.40 million). — Bernama