KL shares lower on profit-taking

Malaysian shares ended lower yesterday on profit-taking as investors cashed in on heavyweights following the downtrend in the US market, said dealers.

At close, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index shed 11.44 points to 1,205.95 after opening 0.57 of a point easier at 1,216.82.

SJ Securities analyst Phua Kwee Hock said the market was undergoing a small correction and did not expect it to fall below 1,184 level. "The market may see a support level at 1,193 and resistance level at 1,212. This profit-taking is more of a global thing," he said.

Phua said the local market tracks the US market which went on a selling mode recently when the US Federal Reserve made a cautious stance on the country's economic recovery.

Phua said the market would remain soft until mid-October ahead of the Budget 2010 to be tabled October 23.

The FBMEmas fell 75.97 points to 8,118.06, the FBM Top 100 slid 76.92 points to 7,908.92, the FBM70 lost 85.27 points to 8,015.06 and the FBM ACE Index dwindled 50.17 points to 4,023.91. The Technology Index shed 0.05 of a point to 16.28, the Finance Index slipped 67.67 points to 9,934.54, the Plantation Index slid 83.85 points to 5,909.14 and the Industrial Index was 21.8 points lower at 2,645.29.

Losers led gainers 469 to 145 with 183 counters unchanged and 461 untraded.

Top losers included KLK, which shed 24 sen to RM13.74, LMCement lost 23 sen to RM6.05 and SP Setia fell 20 sen to RM4.

Among actives, KNM lost 2.5 sen to 76 sen, SAAG slipped half a sen to 23 sen while Jadi Imaging gained half a sen to 21 sen.

Losers among the heavyweights included plantation companies such as Sime Darby, which fell six sen to RM8.52, IOI Corp shed 14 sen to RM5.20 and PPB Group declined 10 sen to RM15.92.

As for the banking sector, Maybank lost two sen to RM6.66, CIMB Group and Public Bank slid six sen each to RM11.10 and RM10.20, respectively, and RHB Capital lost 15 sen to RM5.10.

Tenaga Nasional fell two sen to RM8.18, Axiata eased three sen to RM3.14 and Genting fell 19 sen to RM9.

The FBM KLCI futures ended lower, on the back of a similar trend in the cash market, a dealer said.

The September 2009 contract fell 16.5 points to 1,205, October 2009 dropped 15.5 points to 1,207.0, December 2009 declined 17.5 points to 1,204.5 and March 2010 was 14 points lower at 1,204.5. Turnover was higher at 16,876 lots compared with 13,670 lots last Friday and open interests perked to 20,343 contracts from 17,923 contracts previously. - Bernama