KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended the first half of 2021 in negative territory and remained some 94.58 points down year-to-date.
At closing, the benchmark index fell 15.68 points, or 1.01% to 1,532.63. Year-to-date, the index has fallen some 5.81%.
Losers led gainers by 661 to 309, while 426 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 4.64 million shares valued at RM2.67bil.
Dealers said the local bourse succumbed to profit taking activities as the key index lingered mostly in the negative territory.
The lower liners – the FBM Small Cap (-0.52%), FBM Fledgling (-0.54%) and FBM ACE (-1.81%), all pullback.
In today’s session, 25 of the KLCI-component stocks were traded lower while only one counter rose and four counters closed unchanged.
Among the 30 FBM KLCI constituents, Petronas Dagangan tumbled 38 sen to RM18.60, Petronas Gas fell 20 sen to RM15.50, IHH Healthcare lost 16 sen to RM5.47 and Digi shed 15 sen to RM4.13.
Among the banks, Maybank fell two sen to RM8.11, Public Bank declined four sen to RM4.11, CIMB ended unchanged at RM4.61 and RHB Bank rose three sen to RM5.40.
On the broader market, Euro Holdings jumped 30 sen to RM93 sen, Sedania added 22.3 sen to 72.5 sen, Hightec gained 21 sen to RM2.45 and Heineken advanced 20 sen to RM23.60.
Genetec, the top loser on Bursa Malaysia, tumbled 51 sen to RM8.50. Dutch Lady
lost 36 sen to RM33.60, Aeon Credit fell 26 sen to RM11.62 and Panasonic Manufacturing declined 20 sen to RM32.68.
Meanwhile, Brent crude last traded at US$74.71 per barrel, down 5 cents, or 0.07% while US crude was up 17 cents, or 0.23% at US$73.15 a barrel.
Reuters reported that gold was hovering around an over two-month low on Wednesday.
Spot gold eased 0.2% to US$1,757.76 per ounce as of 0551 GMT, having touched its lowest since April 15 at $1,749.20 on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.07% to close at 28,791,53.
South Korea’s Kospi index closed up 10.00 points, or 0.30%, to 3,296.68.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 138.42 points, or 0.48% to 28,855.68.
China’s CSI300 index rose 0.7% to 5,224.04, while the Shanghai Composite Index firmed 0.5% to 3,591.20.
