KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 — Bursa Malaysia continued its downward trend to end lower on Monday, weighed by profit-taking in selected utility stocks following a robust sector gain of 4.13 per cent last week.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.82 points or 0.11 per cent to 1,611.43 from Friday’s close of 1,613.25.

The index opened 2.63 points lower at 1,610.62 and hit its lowest level of 1,602.94 in the early session before crawling back up to close at its intraday high of 1,611.43.

Market breadth was negative as decliners outpaced gainers 662 to 432, while 479 counters were unchanged, 903 untraded and 13 suspended.

Turnover narrowed to 3.02 billion units valued at RM2.40 billion versus 3.18 billion units valued at RM2.82 billion last Friday.

UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors’ head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said the weaker close was also influenced by the release of China’s latest inflation data, which unexpectedly fell to a five-month low.

“China’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation slowed to 0.2 per cent year-on-year in November, down from 0.3 per cent in October.

“This unexpectedly weak reading underscores the significant scope for further monetary policy easing in the months ahead,” he told Bernama.

He said market talks have centred on the likelihood of an imminent reduction in the Reserve Requirement Ratio (RRR), which remains a distinct possibility — however, the inflation data suggests there is room to combine an RRR cut with an additional interest rate reduction.

Back home, Mohd Sedek said Malaysia’s October labour force statistics, released today, showed continued positive momentum with the number of employed persons increasing by 0.2 per cent month-on-month to 16.72 million.

“Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained steady at 3.2 per cent, unchanged from September, with the labour force participation rate holding at 70.5 per cent. These figures reflect sustained stability in the labour market,” he added.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Malaysian equities ended the day mostly lower amid the mixed performance across the region.

“Key regional bourses closed mostly lower due to negative sentiment caused by a weekend of geopolitical turmoil from Syria to South Korea,” he said.

Thong said the FBM KLCI has been consolidating since mid-September, driven by cautious sentiment and persistent foreign selling amid the absence of fresh market catalysts.

“To regain bullish momentum, the index must decisively break above the resistance level of 1,615 and sustain the upward trend. For this week, we anticipate the benchmark index to hover within the 1,605-1,625 range,” he said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank slipped six sen to RM10.10, Public Bank erased 4.0 sen to RM4.54, but CIMB was 1.0 sen higher at RM8.18, Tenaga Nasional added 30 sen to RM13.82, and IHH Healthcare went up 10 sen to RM7.42.

Of the active stocks, Zen Tech inched down half-a-sen to half-a-sen, Supermax shrank 3.0 sen to RM1.03, however, MYEG rose 2.0 sen to 94 sen, Top Glove gained 1.0 sen to RM1.33, and Dataprep perked up half-a-sen to 15.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 15.36 points to 12,331.54, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 11.98 points to 12,015.72, the FBM 70 Index shed 12.75 points to 18,387.46, and the FBM ACE Index sank 40.37 points to 5,266.82, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 12.08 points to 12,335.21.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 61.07 points to 19,104.54, the Plantation Index climbed by 11.58 points to 7,751.84, the Energy Index erased 5.81 points to 823.32, and the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 1.12 points to 174.68.

The Main Market volume was unchanged at 1.58 billion units worth RM2.15 billion against last Friday’s close of 1.58 billion units worth RM2.54 billion.

Warrants turnover slipped to 871.77 million units valued at RM103.66 million from 1.11 billion units valued at RM112.96 million previously.

The ACE Market volume expanded to 545.17 million units worth RM148.35 million compared with 454.43 million units worth RM166.17 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 246.50 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (278.36 million), construction (75.05 million), technology (329.76 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (83.22 million), property (142.36 million), plantation (43.81 million), REITs (14.82 million), closed/fund (10,000), energy (132.17 million), healthcare (142.65 million), telecommunications and media (19.02 million), transportation and logistics (25.58 million), utilities (42.60 million), and business trusts (111,300). — Bernama