KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower as profit-taking persisted on the broader market amidst weak sentiment shrouding most regional peers, dealer said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased 0.77 per cent or 12.31 points to 1,568.22 from 1,580.53 at yesterday’s close

Earlier, the market bellwether opened 5.39 points weaker at 1,575.14, and fluctuated between 1,560.63 and 1,575.14 throughout the trading session.

However, the overall market breadth was almost even with 450 gainers and 449 losers, while 413 counters were unchanged, 990 untraded, and 14 others suspended

Total turnover fell to 2.41 billion units worth RM2.27 billion against 3.08 billion units worth RM3.40 billion on Thursday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local bourse was weaker as investors took profits on oil and gas as well as plantation counters amid heightened regional volatility.

“Regionally, key indices were also lower due to mixed sentiment amid fears of inflation and geopolitical tensions,” he told Bernama.

He further explained that investors also digested the United States (US) economic data, which recorded the highest inflation in 40 years, driving the country’s bond yields higher and raised expectations that interest rate hikes would be steeper.

According to news reports, the US inflation rose 7.9 per cent in February compared with a year ago, the highest in four decades, with prices bound to get worse as the geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine intensifies.

Back home, Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Maybank, Public Bank and Press Metal all shed four sen each to RM8.91, RM4.40 and RM6.51 respectively, IHH Healthcare fell one sen to RM6.41, while Petronas Chemicals added eight sen to RM9.70.

As for the actives, DNeX and SMTrack slipped half-a-sen each to 99.5 sen and 9.5 sen respectively, Hibiscus Petroleum and Bumi Armada slid two sen each to RM1.18 and 40 sen respectively, while MY E.G added four sen to 97.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM ACE rose 24.43 points to 5,258.48, FBM 70 climbed 47.62 points to 13,072.74, FBM Emas Index declined 53.39 points to 11,114.59, FBMT 100 Index shrank 58.26 points to 10,817.22, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 33.47 points to 11,762.88.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 96.37 points to 16,250.02, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.90 of-a-point to 204.69, and the Plantation Index slipped 44.18 points at 8,204.70.

The Main Market volume fell to 1.55 billion shares worth RM2.06 billion from 2.15 billion shares worth RM3.20 billion on Thursday.

Warrants turnover expanded to 429.58 million units worth RM63.94 million compared with 365.44 million units worth RM52.11 million previously.

The ACE Market volume declined to 432.33 million shares valued at RM138.94 million versus 568.92 million shares valued at RM158.05 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 214.88 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (408.93 million), construction (48.12 million), technology (327.14 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (78.10 million), property (91.34 million), plantation (98.43 million), REITs (5.88 million), closed/fund (23,000), energy (172.12 million), healthcare (61.10 million), telecommunications and media (22.39 million), transportation and logistics (12.46 million), and utilities (14.78 million). — Bernama