KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower for the third day in a row amid a mainly negative regional performance, said an analyst.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 6.10 points to 1,451.56 from yesterday’s close of 1,457.66. The index opened 5.03 points weaker at 1,452.63 and moved between 1,450.37 and 1,456.77 throughout the day.

However, the broader market was positive with advancers outpacing decliners 537 to 423 while 440 counters were unchanged, 974 untraded, and 11 others suspended.

Turnover declined to 3.56 billion units worth RM2.51 billion from 3.95 billion units worth RM2.14 billion yesterday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices finished mostly lower as investors were cautiously awaiting the outcome of the highly-anticipated US Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting on interest rates later tonight.

"If there are no surprises from the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the local and regional sentiment may turn positive,” he told Bernama, adding that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) maintained its benchmark lending rates today, as expected by the market.

On the domestic front, Thong said today’s retreat was a good opportunity to bargain hunt stocks at a lower level going forward.

"We are cautiously optimistic about the market’s outlook given the return of foreign funds and strong support from local institutions, hence we believe the benchmark index will stage a rebound in the near term.

"Hence, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within 1,450 to 1,460 for the rest of the week,” he said.

At the close, Bursa heavyweight counters Maybank lost five sen to RM8.86, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.19 and TNB dropped two sen to RM10.12.

CIMB added five sen to RM5.62 and Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.30.

Of the actives, Ekovest gained 1.5 sen to 57 sen, MY EG Services rose 2.5 sen to 83 sen while Iskandar Waterfront City and UEM Sunrise added six sen each to 75 sen and 91 sen, respectively.

Malaysian Resources Corp climbed two sen to 48.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 10.96 points to 10,755.04, the FBMT 100 Index declined 16.21 points to 10,420.55 and the FBM ACE Index eased 1.80 points to 5,204.13.

The FBM 70 Index improved by 97.57 points to 14,346.28 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened by 18.53 points to 11,018.46.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index went up 22.04 points to 6,978.71 and the Industrial Products Services Index firmed up 0.72 of a point to 174.41 while the Financial Services Index contracted 101.57 points to 16,218.39. The Energy Index inched down 3.64 points to 904.13.

The Main Market volume fell to 2.49 billion units worth RM2.23 billion from 2.73 billion units worth RM1.86 billion yesterday.

Warrant turnover was widened to 395.36 million units valued at RM53.57 million against 325.42 million units valued at RM47.27 million previously.

The ACE Market volume dropped to 662.20 million shares worth RM224.11 million from 880.24 million shares worth RM229.12 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 301.19 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (414.88 million); construction (326.72 million); technology (231.82 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (62.24 million); property (665.25 million); plantation (39.77 million); REITs (12.53 million), closed/fund (37,800); energy (202.50 million); healthcare (101.09 million); telecommunications and media (24.13 million); transportation and logistics (48.54 million) and utilities (57.59 million). — Bernama