Bursa Malaysia closes lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower on Friday, weighed down mainly by losses in finance counters.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 2.48 points easier or 0.14% at 1,755.58 from 1,758.06 on Thursday.
The benchmark index opened 2.19 points better at 1,760.25 after moving between 1,753.0 and 1,760.25 throughout the day.
On a broader market, gainers edged losers by 419 to 418, while 403 counters were unchanged, 631 untraded and 55 others suspended.
Volume eased to 2.02 billion units worth RM2.13 billion from 2.31 billion units valued at RM2.19 billion on Thursday.
A dealer said the local market along with most regional markets ended the third quarter of 2017 in the negative territory, on the back of expectations of US interest rates hike by year-end.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 eased 0.03% to 20,356.28, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.39% to 3,214.94 but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.48% to 27,554.30.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank and IHH Healthcare fell four sen each to RM9.53 and RM5.75, respectively, Public Bank lost 14 sen to RM20.44 and Hong Leong Financial Group slid 20 sen to RM16.60.
Sime Darby added one sen to RM9.02, CIMB and Axiata rose three sen each to RM6.30 and RM5.24, respectively, while TNB and Digi were flat at RM14.32 and RM4.90.
The FBM Emas Index gained 13 points to 12,531.29, FBMT 100 Index advanced 15.68 points to 12,189.25, FBM Emas Syariah Index went up 49.16 points to 12,797.37, FBM 70 soared 142.89 points to 15,057.13 and the FBM Ace was 71.95 points higher at 6,568.86.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index decreased 16.74 points to 7,871.96, the Finance Index slipped 122.93 points to 16,439.87 but Industrial Index edged up 0.66 of-a-point to 3,201.21.
Among active counters, MLabs rose 2.5 sen to 12 sen, Trive Property inched up half-a-sen to 17 sen, Hubline, Hibiscus Petroleum and UMW Oil & Gas were all flat at 11.5 sen, 64.5 sen and 30 sen, respectively, and Hiap Teck Venture fell 5.5 sen to 37 sen.
The Main Market volume fell to 1.35 billion units worth RM2.02 billion from 1.66 billion units worth RM2.08 billion on Thursday.
Volume on the ACE Market was marginally lower at 500.74 million shares valued at RM86.18 million from 504.63 million shares valued at RM96.01 million yesterday.
Warrants rose to 161.22 million units worth RM17.84 million from 134.62 million units worth RM13.12 million.
Consumer products accounted for 74.26 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 350.27 million), construction (60.36 million), trade and services (574.89 billion), technology (80.197 million), infrastructure (9.70 million), SPAC (682,300), finance (61.72 million), hotels (797,400), properties (105.71 million), plantations (25.37 million), mining (26,200), REITs (7.66 million), and closed/fund (11,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM169.11 per gramme, up 42 sen from RM168.69 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama