Malaysian Stock Exchange Finishes Week Lower

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian stock exchange (Bursa Malaysia) finished the week lower today on losses in most heavyweights as the market turned cautious ahead of the the release of US economic data, dealers said. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 1.35 points to 1,665.38 against Thursday's close of 1,666.73. The index opened 2.21 points higher at 1,668.94 in the morning and moved between 1,661.59 and 1,670.30 throughout the day. Losers hammered gainers by 405 to 324 while 424 counters were unchanged, 506 untraded and 33 others suspended. Volume fell to 1.35 billion units worth RM1.56 billion from 1.79 billion units worth RM1.73 billion on Thursday. A dealer said most Asian equity markets were lower as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the release of the US September jobs data later in the day. The dealer also said talks of the UK's move to have a 'hard' exit from the European Union also weighed on the market. Among heavyweights, Public Bank eased eight sen to RM19.88, Maybank fell seven sen to RM7.63 and IHH Healthcare dipped four sen to RM6.51. Tenaga was flat at RM14.36. Of the actives, Perak Transit fell 1.5 sen to 19.5 sen, Perisai Petroleum Teknologi added half-a-sen to eight sen and Lion Corp was flat at half-a-sen. The FBM Emas Index lost 10.84 points to 11,762.15 and the FBMT100 Index fell 11.87 points to 11,465.59. The FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 6.97 points to 12,419.73. The FBM 70 was down 23.51 points to 13,781.04 and the FBM Ace was 27.59 points lower at 5,134.54. On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index rose 10.63 points to 3,135.75 and the Plantation Index was 39.27 points higher to 7,890.50. The Finance Index declined 41.28 points to 14,271.16. -- BERNAMA