KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower today amid muted trading as investors retreated to the sidelines ahead of the extended weekend Raya festive break, an analyst said.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 2.96 points, or 0.20 per cent lower to 1,422.11 from Wednesday's close of 1,425.07.
The barometer index opened 3.57 points firmer at 1,428.64 and moved between 1,418.82 and 1,428.64 throughout the trading session.
The market breadth was negative as decliners surpassed gainers 446 to 358, while 404 counters were unchanged, 1,091 untraded, and 18 others suspended.
Turnover narrowed to 2.46 billion units valued at RM1.46 billion from 3.14 billion units valued at RM1.76 billion on Wednesday.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong said the flattish performance was also due to caution over US recessionary risks after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) warned recently that access to credit has become tougher since last month's banking crisis in the United States.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said investors were also taking a wait-and-see approach ahead of the domestic earnings season, with a mixed performance from Wall Street overnight contributing to the downbeat sentiment in Malaysia and elsewhere in the region.
“Investors seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the long Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday break,“ he told Bernama.
Heavyweight stocks Maybank gained one sen to RM8.70, Public Bank shed four sen to RM3.93 while Petronas Chemicals lost one sen to RM7.20.
CIMB slid three to RM5.19 and CelcomDigi reduced five sen to RM4.38.
Among the actives, MY E.G slipped four sen to 78 sen and Salutica plunged 34.5 sen to 81.5 sen.
Supermax fell 4.5 sen to 85.5 sen while Revenue added half-a-sen to 40.5 sen and SMRT Holdings rose five sen to 66.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 24.84 points to 10,450.96, the FBMT 100 Index lost 24.31 points to 10,135.71 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index pulled down 31.01 points to 10,775.32.
The FBM ACE Index was 9.10 points weaker at 5,343.49 and the FBM 70 index gave up 45.90 points to 13,645.22.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 0.79 of a point to 173.16 while the Plantation Index dropped 18.20 points to 6,833.52.
The Financial Services Index declined 24.72 points to 15,665.86 and the Energy Index shrank 5.20 points to 854.99. - Bernama
