KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower on Thursday, with the benchmark index pulling back after an early advance.
The FBM KLCI fell 3.93 points, or 0.24% to 1,619.96. It has risen to an intraday high of 1,629.69.
There were 692 gainers, 452 losers and 547 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. Turnover stood at 4.7 billion shares valued at RM2.94bil.
Among the losers, PPB Group slid 46 sen to RM11.14, Kuala Lumpur Kepong eased 20 sen to RM20.60, Sunway Construction fell 13 sen to RM5.73 and IHH Healthcare lost 12 sen to RM8.13.
Gainers included Nestle, which rose RM1 to RM113.30, BLD Plantation
added 52 sen to RM13.30, PETRONAS Dagangan gained 36 sen to RM21.48 and Chin Teck climbed 30 sen to RM10.86.
Dealers said the market could face further pressure amid lingering uncertainty over US interest rates and stretched equity valuations.
Even so, they noted that improving near-term sentiment may allow the key index to extend its recovery, supported by mild bargain-hunting.
In terms of fund flows, foreign funds and retailers were net sellers on Wednesday, offloading equities worth RM204mil and RM17mil respectively.
Local institutions emerged as net buyers with total purchases valued at RM221mil.
On the forex market, the ringgit eased 0.17% to 4.1575 against the US dollar, but inched up 0.06% to 3.1809 against the Singapore dollar.
On the external front, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 1.14%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2.65% to 49,823.94, while South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.92% to 4,004.85.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was flat, edging up 0.02% to 25,835.57.
In China, the CSI300 slipped 0.51% to 4,564.95 and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.4% to 3,931.05.
