KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed in the red on Wednesday dragged by heavy profit-taking activities.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was lower 6.87 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 1,608.53 from yesterday's close of 1,615.40.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.59 of-a-point lower at 1,614.81, fluctuated between 1,608.53 and 1,622.65 throughout the trading session.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI ended lower as the index was dragged down by selling pressure in selected banking heavyweights.
"This is in line with the mixed performance of the regional markets as investors traded cautiously amid the lack of clear positive catalysts," the firm said in a note.
Malacca Securities said the market breadth was negative as losers led gainers 599 to 547 stocks.
On the broader market, it said the telco and media sector (1.26 per cent) was the best performing sector, while the energy sector (1.50 per cent) was the worst decliner.
Among other heavyweights, IHH Healthcare Group Bhd dropped by 1.0 sen to RM6.18, Public Bank Bhd was down two sen to RM4.13, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd rose one sen to RM6.74, Tenaga Nasional Bhd rose 28 sen to RM13.26, and Press Metal Aluminium added one sen to RM5.82.
Among the actives, Dagang NeXchange Bhd increased two sen to 48 sen, Datasonic Group Bhd perked up 1.5 sen to 52 sen and JCY International rose two sen to 62 sen.