Malaysia's Stock Market Ends Marginally Lower

KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's stock market (Bursa Malaysia) closed marginally lower on Monday on mild profit taking in selected key heavyweights and in line with regional peers. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed 0.80 of-a-point easier at 1,744.95, after moving between 1,744.33 and 1,750.35 throughout the day. On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 363 to 587, with 362 counters unchanged, 417 untraded and 23 others were suspended. Volume increased to 3.97 billion units, worth RM2.48 billion, from 3.69 billion units, worth RM2.52 billion, registered on Friday. Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd Head of Research Pong Teng Siew said stocks with limited fundamentals were the best gainers today following the profit taking activities in some key heavyweight counters and high volume of trading, last week. "Notably, we see technology stock, KESM Industries, which was also the top loser, fell dramatically to RM11.46 today against RM11.60 on March 21. "I reckon this news circulated on the social media on the existence of 'pump and dump' activities on Bursa Malaysia which was keeping investors at bay," Pong told Bernama. It was reported that the stock exchange discovered certain groups of market participants using the social media and Internet to carry out manipulative activities, which included 'pump and dump' schemes. Top contributers to the composite index were Petronas Chemicals which gained six sen to RM7.58, Genting added eight sen to RM5.65 and Sime Darby rose five sen to RM9.45. Among heavyweights, Maybank and TNB fell two sen each to RM8.97 and RM13.70, respectively, and Public Bank eased four sen to RM19.92. Of actives, Naim Indah added 1.5 sen to 12 sen, Trive Property gained one sen to 20.5 sen while EA Holdings was flat at eight sen. -- BERNAMA