Shares On Malaysia's Stock Market End Lower

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- Shares on the Malaysia's stock market, Bursa Malaysia close lower today weighed down by losses in selected heavyweights amid mixed performance by Asian stocks as China reported underwhelming exports for December. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.26 points to end at 1,672.5 compared with yesterday's close of 1,677.76. After opening 0.08 of-a-point weaker at 1,677.68 today, the FBM KLCI moved within a narrow range of between 1,672.5 and 1,679.64 throughout the day. On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers by 464 to 327, with 364 counters unchanged, 586 untraded and 26 others suspended. Volume decreased to 2.21 billion shares worth RM1.92 billion from 2.53 billion shares worth RM2.19 billion yesterday. A dealer said the decline in the local market was in line with the bearish performance of most of its Asian peers, driven by the bigger-than-expected drop in China's exports. Among heavyweights, TNB declined six sen to RM13.94, Petronas Chemicals fell one sen to RM7.19, IHH declined three sen to RM6.32 and CIMB was four sen lower at RM4.82. Top losers were BAT which lost RM3.70 to RM44.80, LPI Capital was 30 sen lower to RM16.90 and Sam Engineering was 23 sen weaker at RM5.70. Top gainers, on the other hand, were United Plantations, which was up 58 sen to RM27.38, Panasonic rose 30 sen to RM31.80 and Tahps added 19 sen to RM6.70. On actives, Hibiscus Petroleum rose four sen to 49 sen, IFCA MSC declined two sen to 39 sen and KNM Group was half-a-sen better at 37 sen. The FBM Emas Index shed 40.16 points to 11,711.31, FBMT 100 Index declined 39.42 points to 11,415.69 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 25.08 points at 12,236.82. The FBM Ace slipped 82.94 points to 5,084.17 and the FBM 70 slid 59.7 points to 13,363.68. Sector-wise, the Industrial Index lost 22.51 points to 3,170.08, Finance Index fell 38.93 points to 14,745.99 but the Plantation Index gained 10.01 points at 7,937.06. -- BERNAMA