Lack of investor support drags FBM KLCI

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed lower today on lack of investor support, a dealer said.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI lost 11.89 points to settle at 1,567.80 after opening 0.49 of a point higher at 1,580.18.

OSK Head of Research Chris Eng said investors were reluctant to hold new positions amid weaknesses in regional markets.

"We notice a lot of selldowns today as traders are concerned about Europe developments such as the upcoming presidential elections in France and Greece," he said.

Another dealer said investors remained on the sidelines as news on Spain's credit rating downgrade had overshadowed good performance on Wall Street and better US corporate earnings.

Standard & Poor Ratings Services has lowered its investment-grade rating on Spain by two notches to 'BBB+' from 'A', citing mounting risks to the nation's government debt as the economy contracts.

The Finance Index declined 132.77 points to 13,985.06, the Industrial Index lost 20.11 points to 2,824.87 and the Plantation Index slid 69.46 points to 8,647.78. The FBM Emas Index was 65.48 points lower at 10,762.81, the FBM 70 Index declined 6.44 points to 11,875.04 while the FBM ACE Index added 7.15 points to 4,535.33.

Losers outnumbered gainers 409 to 286 while 349 counters were unchanged, 496 untraded and 40 others suspended.

Total volume fell to 1.296 billion shares valued at RM1.386 billion from the 1.454 billion shares worth RM1.461 billion yesterday.

The Main Market volume eased to 689.19 million shares valued at RM1.26 billion from the 833.621 million shares worth RM1.340 billion previously. Turnover on the ACE market decreased to 516.11 million units worth RM108.69 million from 527.735 million shares worth RM84.811 million. Warrants rose to 83.98 million units valued at RM12.98 million from 60.744 million units worth RM10.465 million.

Among active stocks, Ariantec Global rose two sen to 25.5 sen, 1 Utopia eased half a sen to 8.5 sen, while Daya Material added two sen to 23 sen.

For the heavyweights, Maybank added 12 sen to RM8.64 while Sime Darby lost five sen to RM9.72 and CIMB fell nine sen to RM7.33.

Consumer products accounted for 82.57 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 124.38 million, construction 17.77 million, trade and services 320.35 million, technology 20.20 million, infrastructure 18.35 million, finance 41.84 million, hotels 202,800, properties 41.46 million, plantations 13.09 million, mining 64,500, REITs four million and closed/fund 19,100. -- BERNAMA