Palm | Kelapa Sawit

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended lower today in a very quiet trading as investors remained cautious over US economic developments and the ongoing European debt crisis, a dealer said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Composite Index (FBM KLCI) closed 0.83 of a point easier at 1,579.84, after trading within a narrow range of between 1,577.76 and 1,581.69 throughout the day.

The dealer expects more foreign funds to flow into the local market amid Malaysia's resilience in the US and European markets.

He said investors were also adopting a wait-and-see attitude and anticipated more projects to be announced under the Economic Transformation Programme, before investing for the long-term.

The Plantation Index erased 41.82 points to 7,791.57, Finance Index fell 16.79 points to 14,860.29, and the Industrial Index shed 3.45 points to 2,854.56.

The FBM Emas Index lost 12.43 points to 10,831.24, FBM Ace Index was lower by 20.3 points to 4,125.25 and the FBM70 Index declined 39.57 points to 11,779.16.

Losers led advancers 429 to 257 while 346 counters were unchanged, 459 were untraded and 22 others were suspended.

Turnover dwindled to 713.17 million shares, valued at RM1.37 billion, from 843.27 million shares, valued at RM1.57 billion, recorded on Wednesday.

Among top gainers, Petronas Dagangan advanced 50 sen to RM18.50, Nestle gained 30 sen to RM47.90 and Dutch Lady Milk added 20 sen to RM19.20.

Actives, MSM-CC:CW (AM) rose five sen to 20 sen, Petronas Chemicals perked one sen to RM7.07 but MSM-CA:CW (C) eased six sen to 32.5 sen.

Heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.86, CIMB fell three sen to RM8.79 and Sime Darby was unchanged at RM9.12.

Main Market volume decreased to 504.75 million shares, worth RM1.32 billion, from 636.14 million shares, valued at RM1.53 billion, registered on Wednesday.

Turnover on the ACE Market declined to 83.17 million units, valued at RM15.03 million versus 116.71 million units worth RM18.84 million, recorded yesterday.

Warrants increased to 122.13 million shares, valued at RM28.74 million, against 86.04 million shares, worth RM16.49 million, transacted previously.

Consumer products accounted for 37.17 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 129.25 million, construction 29.09 million, trade and services 149.54 million, technology 11.27 million, infrastructure 5.01 million, finance 57.31 million, hotels 234,500, properties 72.6 million,plantations 9.26 million, mining 625,000, REITs 3.35 million and closed/fund 69,000.

- Bernama