Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed lower yesterday, prompted by selling activities in selected heavyweights as investors took cue from the downtrend on Wall Street and regional bourses, dealers said.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI), however, stayed up, rising 0.51 of a point to 1,346.89, after opening 2.14 points lower at 1,344.24.
Meanwhile, in its research note yesterday, OSK Research said the FBM KLCI turned in a reasonable performance with a total return of 2.1 per cent during the month of April.
The research firm said on a year-to-date basis, Bursa Malaysia was the third best performing market after Indonesia and the Philippines.
"Markets were undoubtedly spurred by the stronger ringgit, which appreciated from RM3.26 to a dollar to RM3.19 at end of April. Our KLCI year-end target of 1,465 points is retained," it added.
At the close of trading yesterday, the Finance Index increased 2.73 points to 12,094.52, the Industrial Index gained 1.82 points to 2,778.49 and the Plantation Index added 9.39 points to 6,457.48.
The FBM Emas Index declined 4.69 points to 9,100.56, the FBM70 fell 20.92 points to 8,996.86 and the FBM Ace Index decreased 10.06 points to 4,158.79.
Advancers outpaced decliners by 456 to 254, while 268 counters were unchanged, 392 untraded and 26 others suspended.
Turnover yesterday was slightly lower at 771.12 million shares worth RM1.03 billion compared with last Friday's closing of 889.10 million shares valued at RM1.47 billion.
Among active stocks, Talam Corp rose 1 sen to 15 sen, Genting Malaysia declined 3 sen to RM2.87 and Tejari Technologies increased 5 sen to 29 sen.
As for heavyweights, Maybank declined 3 sen to RM7.63, Sime Darby rose 3 sen to RM8.81, Tenaga eased 7 sen to RM8.43 and CIMB was unchanged at RM14.18.
The Main Market volume declined to 636.77 million shares valued at RM993.67 million from 743.39 million shares worth RM1.44 billion last Friday.
Volume on the ACE market, however, increased to 81.24 million shares valued at RM17.44 million from 75.05 million shares worth RM13.07 million.
Warrants decreased to 42.39 million units valued at RM8.58 million from 56.97 million units worth RM10.5 million previously. - Bernama