BURSA Malaysia ended the day lower on continued selling in heavyweight stocks, led by CIMB, Petronas Dagangan and Petronas Gas, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 9.47 points to close at an intra-day low of 1,883.15 after reaching a high of 1,894.86 in trading.
Shares of CIMB fell more than three per cent to end trading at RM7 after the company announced plans to acquire two smaller lenders to create the country’s largest bank.
Petronas Dagangan declined RM1.34, or 5.93 per cent, to RM21.26, while Petronas Gas shed 58 sen, or 2.39 per cent, to RM23.72.
The Finance Index declined 19.28 points to 17,470.57, the Industrial Index lost 29.89 points to 3,243.81 and the Plantation Index shed 65.77 points for 9,162.07.
The FBM Emas Index slipped 54.82 points to 13,117.34, the FBMT100 Index fell 55.6 points to 12,722.13, the FBM 70 fell 30.75 points to 14,423.76 and the FBM ACE went down 43.29 points to 6,754.33.
Market breadth was negative as decliners outpaced advancers 534 to 289, with 337 counters unchanged, 476 untraded and 20 suspended.
Total volume rose to 2.04 billion units worth RM2.45 billion from Thursday’s 1.62 billion shares worth RM1.98 billion.
Meanwhile, FBM KLCI futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed mostly lower, in line with the weaker cash market.
Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd dealer Tan Sek Wei said continued selling in Petronas-linked shares and CIMB dragged the index lower.
July 2014 and September 2014 lost three points each to 1,891 and 1,883.5 respectively, August 2014 dropped two points to 1,886, but December 2014 earned half a point to 1,883.
Turnover rose to 3,552 lots from 2,537 lots, while open interest widened to 33,575 contracts from 32,272 contracts. Bernama
