Weaker as investors take profits

SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia closed on a weaker note yesterday on moderate trading and profit-taking in most consumer stocks, dealers said.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) fell 5.48 points to end at 1,640.74. The index, which opened at 1,645.83, hovered between 1,635.87 and 1,645.83 throughout the day.

"Investors remained cautious despite Wall Street's nine-day gain and a bump up in US retail sales," a dealer said.

Decliners led advancers by 344 to 321, with 334 counters unchanged, 635 untraded and 20 others suspended.

The Finance Index dropped 12.31 points to 15,290.05, Plantation Index fell 9.89 points to 7,910.26 and the Industrial Index erased 20.74 points to 2,843.05.

The FBM Emas Index slipped 28.74 points to 11,223.48, FBMT100 fell 31.53 points to 11,064.89 and the FBM Mid 70 Index lost 10.8 points to 12,466.63.

The FBM ACE Index, however, rose 0.74 point to 3,973.24.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank advanced two sen to RM9.21 and Axiata rose three sen to RM6.39. CIMB and Sime Darby gave up two sen each to RM7.09 and RM9.19, respectively.

Of the actives, Sanichi Technologies and Patimas Computers were flat at 11.5 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively. GPRO Technologies eased 0.5 sen to 12 sen while Digistar Corp-ORD earned 0.5 sen to 6.5 sen.

Meanwhile, FBM KLCI futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed mostly lower, tracking losses on the underlying cash market, dealers said.

March 2013 was flat at 1,640, April 2013 eased half a point to 1,637.5, June 2013 lost three points to 1,627 while September 2013 lost 1.5 points to 1,622.

Turnover totalled 9,119 lots while open interest stood at 41,871 contracts. Bernama