KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — Bursa Malaysia gave up early gains to end on a lower note today amid muted trading throughout most of the session.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 3.64 points to 1,445.82 from yesterday’s close of 1,449.46.

The index opened 1.45 points higher at 1,450.91 and thereafter moved between 1,444.63 and 1,452.07 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative, with decliners beating gainers 452 to 365, while 471 counters were unchanged, 1,026 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Turnover shrank to 2.80 billion units worth RMM1.81 billion from 3.54 billion units worth RM2 billion yesterday.

A trader said a broad sell-off in the previous sessions as well as optimism about the US outlook for interest rate cuts helped boost interest for stocks in the early part of the day.

Nevertheless, the market failed to sustain the upbeat momentum as some investors cashed in profit.

"Some traders are also sidelined amid concerns over Moody’s move to downgrade the credit outlook of Malaysia’s largest trading partner on rising debt risks,” he told Bernama.

It was reported that Moody’s Investors Service has cut China’s government credit ratings to negative from stable, citing the impact on broader growth in the world’s second-largest economy as it resorts to fiscal stimulus to contain the debt crisis among the country’s property developers.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank eased one sen to RM9.00, while Public Bank and CIMB were unchanged at RM4.25 and RM5.75, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional bagged two sen to RM9.99.

Petronas Chemicals and IHH trimmed four sen each to RM7.03 and RM5.80 respectively.

As for the most active counters, Velesto dropped 1.5 sen to 20.5 sen, Widad and Bina Puri were half-a-sen higher at 47 sen and 7.0 sen respectively, while Sarawak Consolidated and Reneuco rose 1.5 sen to 79.5 sen and 23 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 27.07 points to 10,655.30, the FBMT 100 Index decreased by 28.62 points to 10,324.44, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 40.67 points to 10,796.00, and the FBM 70 Index dropped 50.33 points to 13,974.94.

However, the FBM ACE Index climbed 62.89 points to 5,141.70.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 28.08 points to 16,312.21, the Plantation Index slipped 12.17 points to 6,976.73, the Energy Index edged down 7.22 points to 802.00, while the Industrial Products and Services Index perked up 0.10 of-a-point to 169.93.

The Main Market volume narrowed to 1.63 billion units valued at RM1.55 billion against 2.06 billion units valued at RM1.70 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 588.31 million units worth RM58.95 million from 678.24 million units worth RM69.44 million previously.

The ACE Market volume tumbled to 575.34 million shares valued at RM195.42 million versus 799.46 million shares valued at RM232.45 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 257.06 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (322.80 million); construction (156.82 million); technology (156.72 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (54.40 million); property (153.66 million); plantation (29.97 million); REITs (9.41 million), closed/fund (1,000); energy (229.26 million); healthcare (106.11 million); telecommunications and media (34.53 million); transportation and logistics (32.61 million); and utilities (82.81 million). — Bernama