KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed lower on Tuesday as investors took profits after recent gains, while awaiting cues from the US Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy meeting amid a region-wide downturn.
The FBM KLCI finished down 4.82 points, or 0.3% at 1,613.56 after moving between its intraday high of 1,620.23 and low of 1,610.18.
Market breadth turned negative as losers outnumbered the gainers on a ratio of 751-to-331 stocks. Traded volumes stood at 3.86 billion shares worth RM3.03bil.
Among the top decliners on Bursa Malaysia, UMS Integration tumbled 95 sen to RM4.85, United Plantations slid 42 sen to RM24.08, Heineken dropped 38 sen to RM21.32, and Kelington Group declined 29 sen to RM5.35.
Malaysian Pacific Industries
topped the gainers’ list, surging RM1.08 to RM31.62. Other notable advancers included Nestle, which climbed 50 sen to RM107.10, Sam Engineering, up 31 sen to RM4.93, and Dutch Lady, which added 20 sen to RM26.30.
Newly listed Powertechnic Group slipped two sen, or 5.71%, to 33 sen, with 125.2 million shares changing hands.
On the forex market, the ringgit strengthened 0.25% against the US dollar to 4.2005 and inched up 0.14% against the Singapore dollar to 3.2435.
On the external front, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific ex-Japan slipped 0.55%.
Regional markets ended lower, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.58% to 50,219.18, South Korea’s Kospi easing 0.8% to 4,010.41, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shedding 0.33% to 26,346.14.
In China, the CSI300 index dipped 0.51% to 4,691.97, while the Shanghai Composite Index edged down 0.22% to 3,988.22.
