Malaysian Stock Market Ends Week Lower

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) finished the week lower on profit-taking in selected heavyweights and trade and services counters, dealers said. A dealer said continuous selling activities pushed the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) to close at 1,742.28, down 4.53 points, or 0.26 per cent, from Thursday's 1,746.81 points. The index opened 0.28 of-a-point easier at 1,746.53 and moved between 1,740.94 and 1,748.94 throughout the day. Sellers thumped buyers by 479 to 370, with 400 counters unchanged, 575 counters untraded and 20 others suspended. Volume increased to 3.10 billion units valued at RM2.13 billion from 3.09 billion units valued at RM2.33 billion on Thursday. Among the top losers, MISC dipped 15 sen to RM7.30, Axiata and Genting Malaysia fell 10 sen each to RM5.34 and RM5.05, respectively, Genting and Westports eased seven sen each to RM9.41 and RM3.67, respectively and Kim Loong declined 24 sen to RM4.61. An analyst told Bernama the local market was on correction mode after recent gains and the downtrend was also in line with the softer regional bourses following the overnight losses on Wall Street on profit-taking and uncertainties over US tax reforms. Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.82 per cent to 22,681.42, Hong Kong's Hang Seng eased 0.05 per cent to 29,120.92, South Korea's Kospi shed 0.30 per cent to 2,542.95 while the Singapore Straits Times index decreased 0.05 per cent to 3,422.32. However, he said, Bursa Malaysia’s decline was capped by gains in finance and oil and gas-related stocks, after Bank Negara Malaysia yesterday's announcement it would keep the overnight policy rate unchanged at three per cent as well as steady global oil prices. Maybank rose two sen to RM9.18, Hong Leong Bank, Hong Leong Financial Group and Petronas Chemicals added four sen each to RM16.00, RM16.70 and RM7.44, respectively, PetGas rose 10 sen to RM17.80, Petronas Dagangan surged 16 sen to RM21.60 and Hengyuan Refining firmed 12 sen to RM10.00. As for actives, Sumatec rose half-a-sen to 5.5 sen, Hibiscus gained 5.5 sen to 79 sen, Malayan United Industries and Key Asic added two sen each to 26.5 sen and 26.5 sen, respectively while Key Alliance fell one sen to 21 sen. -- BERNAMA