KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower today as weak sentiment weighed on investor confidence, dragging the benchmark index into negative territory.
The 30-stock index fell by 6.78 points, or 0.43%, to 1,584.25, after recovering from an intraday low of 1,577.95.
Market breadth turned negative as decliners outnumbered gainers at a ratio of 719 to 304. Trading volume stood at 2.7 billion shares worth RM2.32bil.
Dealers said weak external sentiment may continue to pressure local stocks in the near term, while investors focus on corporate earnings this week.
Malaysian Pacific Industries
, the biggest loser on Bursa Malaysia tumbled 78 sen to RM19.62. Dutch Lady slid 58 sen to RM30.02, PETRONAS Chemicals declined 40 sen to RM3.74 and Tenaga Nasional fell 34 sen to RM13.64.
Among the gainers, Nestle rose RM1 to RM91.50, United Plantations added 66 sen to RM32.50, Kuala Lumpur Kepoing gained 42 sen to RM21.42 and PETRONAS Dagangan climbed 10 sen to RM20.90.
Among the banks, Maybank fell 19 sen to RM10.48, CIMB added two sen to RM8.38, Public Bank declined three sen to RM4.47, Hong Leong Bank gained 24 sen to RM20.74, and RHB Bank remained unchanged at RM6.67.
On the forex market, the ringgit strengthened 0.27% against the US dollar to 4.4065 and gained 0.2% against the Singapore dollar to 3.2969.
In the regional markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.26%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed down 0.58%, South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.35% while China’s CSI 300 Index fell 0.22%.
