KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia cooled following three days of gains as investors decided to take some money off the table while the ringgit strengthened.
At 5 pm, the FBM KLCI dropped 21.69 points, or 1.29%, to 1,653.55, after recovering from an intraday low of 1,651.73.
All indices on Bursa Malaysia ended lower, except for the Bursa Malaysia Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Index.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 851 to 316 while 458 counters traded unchanged. About 3.7 billion shares, valued at almost RM4bil, changed hands.
Dealers said the performance of the local bourse was in line with the performance of the regional markets following the overnight retreat on Wall Street.
Reuters reported that the ringgit gained as much as 0.4% to trade at 4.323 per dollar, near 1-1/2-year highs and bringing its year-to-date gains to more than 6%.
The Malaysian currency has rebounded from a 26-year low hit a few months ago to become the region's best-performing currency, on expectations of strong economic growth in the Southeast Asian country, with robust inflows of foreign investment.
According to data on Bursa Malaysia, foreign investors continued to buy into local stocks on Wednesday, acquiring RM647mil worth of equities.
Local institutions and retailers sold equities worth RM503mil and RM144mil respectively.
At Bursa Malaysia, the top loser was Malaysian Pacific Industries
tumbled RM2.68 to RM28. Gamuda slid 40 sen to RM7.38, CIMB lost 38 sen to RM8 while IJM declined 26 sen to RM2.86.
Nestle jumped 86 sen to RM100.60, Heineken rose 32 sen to RM23.18, F&N added 30 sen to RM29.50 and PETRONAS Dagangan gained 28 sen to RM21.14.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was lower by 0.13%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.02%, while Seoul's Kospi tumbled 1.02%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.53% and China’s CSI300 Index fell 0.27%.
