KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI retraced earlier gains to settle in the negative territory on Wednesday amid a weak broader market.
At 5 pm, the barometer index closed 0.62 of a point lower at 1,518.16. The index hit an intraday high of 1,527.84 and a low of 1,516.57.
Losers outpaced gainers 444 to 394, while 436 counters were unchanged. Traded volumes were higher at 2.72 billion shares worth RM1.91bil.
According to data from Bursa Malaysia, local institutions were net sellers at RM203mil but foreign investors were net buyers at RM174mil on Tuesday. Retail investors acquired RM29mil worth of equities.
Among the losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries
declined 28 sen to RM32, Petronas Gas eased 28 sen to RM17.02 and F&N fell 18 sen to RM22.80.
Among the gloves, Hartalega fell three sen to RM1.74, Top Glove added 2.5 sen to 86 sen and Kossan climbed one sen to RM1.02.
Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB closed flat at RM8.97, RM4.65 and RM5.45 RHB Bank and Hong Leong Bank shed six sen each to RM5.86 and RM20.70 respectively.
Around the region, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan rose 0.18%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 1.23% higher at 29,222.77 while South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.46%, at 2,521.84.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.46%, at 19,922.45.
CSI300 index added 0.94% to 4,216.96, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.45% at 3,292.53 points.