KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the week lower in line with the regional markets as investors remain wary that the global banking crisis could worsen despite the assurance from US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to keep deposits safe at banks, said an analyst.

The weaker sentiment on the local bourse has prompted the key index to fall 0.80 per cent to below the 1,400-level.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 11.28 points to 1,399.70, which was the day’s low, from yesterday's close of 1,410.98.

The market bellwether opened 0.15 of-a-point higher at 1,411.13 and hit an intraday high of 1,411.67 in the early session.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 496 to 339, while 440 counters were unchanged, 998 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Turnover fell to 2.99 billion units worth RM1.91 billion from Thursday's 3.26 billion units worth RM2.03 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said the recent banking crisis in the United States (US) and Europe has very little impact on Malaysia as the local banking system is highly regulated, whereby asset quality risks are well contained.

"However, due to uncertain global and regional conditions, we expect short-term market sentiment to remain nervous,” he said in a note today.

Regionally, Singapore's Straits Times Index slid 0.20 per cent to 3,212.64, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index decreased 0.67 per cent to 19,915.68, Japan's Nikkei 225 eased 0.13 per cent to 27,385.25, and China's SSE Composite Index slipped 0.64 per cent to 3,265.65.

Among Bursa Malaysia heavyweights, MISC increased three sen to RM7.19, Maybank depreciated six sen to RM8.43, Public Bank shed five sen to RM3.90, while CIMB and TNB slipped two sen each to RM5.19 and RM9.54, respectively.

Among the actives, Dagang NeXchange went up three sen to 59 sen, AT Systematization was flat at one sen, Revenue Group declined 2.5 sen to 27.5 sen, Computer Forms sank 7.5 sen to 27.5 sen, and Top Glove slid 6.5 sen to 95.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 78.87 points to 10,258.18, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 77.34 points to 9,951.83 and the FBM 70 Index declined 91.46 points to 13,297.72.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 71.33 points to 10,599.21, and the FBM ACE Index dropped 10.83 points to 5,303.82.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 116.63 points to 15,449.52, the Energy Index fell 8.37 points to 802.88, the Plantation Index shaved off 55.58 points to 6,713.93, and the Industrial Products and Services Index gave up 1.63 points to 165.54.

The Main Market volume dwindled to 1.89 billion shares worth RM1.64 billion against 2.28 billion shares worth RM1.76 billion on Thursday.

Warrants turnover narrowed to 415.85 million units worth RM51.81 million from 433.61 million units worth RM73.54 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume expanded to 676.06 million shares worth RM216.94 million from 546.78 million shares worth RM189.56 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 245.12 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (432.20 million); construction (39.84 million); technology (440.29 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (80.36 million); property (133.95 million); plantation (31.56 million); REITs (7.05 million), closed/fund (900); energy (915.03 million); healthcare (280.27 million); telecommunications and media (61.95 million); transportation and logistics (25.19 million); and utilities (22.54 million). ― Bernama