KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower today as investors continued to take profit amid mixed performance in regional bourses, with the sentiment remaining cautious due to regional and global uncertainties.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 17.07 points, or 1.13 per cent, to end at 1,487.37 compared with Friday’s close of 1,504.44.

The benchmark index, which opened 2.83 points weaker at 1,501.61 this morning, moved between 1,486.37 and 1,502.07 throughout the day.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 670 to 219, while 377 counters were unchanged, 1,062 untraded, and 17 others suspended.

Total turnover advanced to 2.18 billion units worth RM1.56 billion from 2.11 billion units worth RM1.53 billion last Friday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said regional key indices trended mixed as concerns over a global economic slowdown and continued increase in interest rates weighed on sentiment.

"Meanwhile in China, stocks ended in positive territory after the country’s central bank lowered its loan prime rate, a target for market rates, as part of efforts to shore up weak economic growth after a crackdown on debt caused a real estate slump while Shanghai and other cities were shut down to fight virus outbreaks,” he told Bernama.

He reckons that despite global developments, bargain-hunting may set in on the local bourse.

"As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend sideways hovering within the 1,480-1,500 range for the week,” he told Bernama today.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank slipped five sen to RM8.87, Public Bank declined two sen at RM4.59, Petronas Chemicals erased four sen to RM8.70 and CIMB was 11 sen lower at RM5.31.

Of the actives, Sapura Energy was one sen easier at four sen, South Malaysia Industries advanced 2.5 sen at 50 sen while Metronic, Cnergenz and MYEG were all flat at 5.5 sen, 88.5 sen and 78.5 sen, respectively.

Among the decliners, Malaysia Pacific Industries was down RM1.58 to RM32.9, Nestle erased 80 sen to RM134.20, Hong Leong Financial Group lost 38 sen at 19.24 and Petronas Dagangan slid 36 sen at RM22.30 On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index fell 119.86 points to 10,303.40, FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 147.93 points to 10,667.67, FBM 70 eased 153.60 points to 12,633.84, FBM ACE declined 131.68 points to 4,855.00, while the FBM Emas Index slid 123.54 points to 10,556.35.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 137.85 points to 16,615.13, Plantation Index dipped 75.61 points to 7,171.63, Industrial Products and Services Index erased 2.07 points to 181.67, and the Energy Index fell 5.94 points to 665.40.

The Main Market volume slipped to 1.34 billion shares worth RM1.22 billion from 1.35 billion shares worth RM1.23 billion on Friday.

Warrants’ turnover improved to 329.54 million units valued at RM53.58 million from 321.76 million units valued at RM48.25 million previously.

The ACE Market volume grew to 514.66 million shares worth RM288.0 million from 438.85 million shares worth RM252.37 million last Friday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 182.65 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (367.12 million), construction (47.87 million), technology (156.03 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (46.73 million), property (103.74 million), plantation (16.93 million), REITs (5.92 million), closed/fund (12,000), energy (246.37 million), healthcare (113.8 million), telecommunications and media (13.52 million), transportation and logistics (28.87 million), and utilities (12.27 million). — Bernama