KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower on Monday as investor sentiments turned cautious ahead of the interest rate decision by Bank Negara this week.
The FBM KLCI closed down 1.47 points, or 0.1% at 1,493.56 after moving between 1,496.05 and 1,489.0.
Market breadth turned negative as losers overpowered the gainers on a ratio of 485-to-411 stocks. Traded volumes stood at 3.92 billion shares worth RM2.03bil.
Much of the losses were due to the selling pressure on banking stocks. Maybank and Hong Leong Financial Group fell eight sen each to RM18.90 and RM8.78.
AmBank declined five sen to RM4.14, CIMB lost two sen to RM5.76, RHB Bank fell one sen to RM5.76 and Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.32.
Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 42 sen to RM21.76, Malaysia Airports lost 13 sen to RM7.07 and CYL eased 12 sen to RM1.06.
Hextar Technologies jumped 88 sen to RM258.10, Heineken added 70 sen to RM26.50 and F&N gained 60 sen to RM24.50.
According to MIDF Research, foreign investors registered a net outflow of RM46.8mil in domestic stock over the past week.
However, on a year-to-date basis, foreign investors recorded net inflows of RM25.6mil in 2023.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.14% at 25,822.32 while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.58% to 2,399.86.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.04% higher at 21,746.72 and China’s Shanghai Composite Index added 1.01% to 3,227.59.
