By Siti Radziah Hamzah
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index ended lower today, extending its pullback due to persistent profit-taking after the recent rally.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 3.41 points or 0.21 per cent to 1,629.46 compared with Thursday’s close of 1,632.87.
The index earlier opened 2.07 points higher at 1,634.94 and moved between 1,626.04 and 1,636.08 throughout the day.
The broader market, however, was positive as gainers thumped decliners 631 to 477, while 502 counters remained unchanged, 745 were untraded and 11 were suspended.
Turnover rose to 3.70 billion units valued at RM2.87 billion against Thursday’s 2.64 billion units valued at RM1.97 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that if the FBM KLCI was able to maintain above the 1,300 level, the benchmark index might establish a base for further upward movements.
The regional markets were mostly lower with China’s SSE Composite falling 1.57 per cent to 3,211.43, Nikkei 225 slid 0.96 per cent to 39,894.54, Hang Seng rose 0.7 per cent to 19,960.27, and Shenzhen slipped 1.89 per cent to 9,897.12.
Among the heavyweights, Hong Leong Bank advanced eight sen to RM20.50, CelcomDigi increased five sen to RM3.70, Press Metal added two sen to RM4.85, Petronas Chemicals surged 13 sen to RM4.99, YTL Power bagged seven sen to RM4.46, while Maybank and Public Bank shed four sen each to RM10.14 and RM4.50, respectively, CIMB slid two sen to RM8.11, and TNB dipped 16 sen to RM14.60.
For active stocks, Datasonic inched up half-a-sen to 42.5 sen, MYEG perked up 2.5 sen to 98.5 sen, Dagang NeXchange firmed three sen to 43 sen, JCY International was flat at 57.5 sen, and SNS Network eased half-a-sen to 69.5 sen.
-- BERNAMA
