KUALA LUMPUR: The local bourse continued to see profit-taking activity ahead of the 15th general election (GE15), with the benchmark index falling 0.15%.
The FBM KLCI closed down 2.16 points to 1,448.38, its intraday high.
Market breadth turned negative as losers overpowered the gainers on a ratio of 493-to-351 stocks. Traded volumes stood at 2.32 billion shares worth RM1.71bil.
Dealers expect the market to be volatile until the elections while oversold counters would see buying interest especially index-linked stocks.
In today’s session, 15 of the FBM KLCI-component stocks were traded higher while 12 counters declined while three counters remained unchanged.
Hong Leong Bank fell 10 sen to RM20.50, Public Bank declined seven sen to RM4.30, Sime Darby Plantation
lost seven sen to RM4.38 and CIMB eased six sen to RM5.35.
PETRONAS Dagangan rose 50 sen to RM22.48, Tenaga added 18 sen to RM8.48, Maxis gained seven sen to RM3.81 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong climbed six sen to RM21.62.
On the broader market, Hextar Technologies Solutions tumbled RM1.32 to RM13.90, Aeon Credit fell 18 sen to RM12.60 and PGF Capital lost 16 sen to RM1.04.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.5437, up 0.02% against the US dollar.
Among the key regional markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 0.14% to 28,028.30;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.47% to 18,256.48;
Shanghai Composite Index eased 0.45% to 3,119.98;
South Korea’s Kospi closed down 0.12% to 2,477.45 and;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.06% to 14,537.35.
