KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 22): Bursa Malaysia ended lower on Thursday (Sept 22), joining the global selldown on equities after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) hiked interest rates to curb rampant inflation.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 8.02 points, or 0.55%, to 1,439.16 from Wednesday's close of 1,447.18.

The benchmark index opened 2.31 points lower at 1,444.87, subsequently moving between 1,435.76 and 1,448.51 throughout the session.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 447 to 372, while 424 counters were unchanged, 1,147 untraded, and nine others suspended.

Total turnover fell to 2.17 billion units worth RM1.68 billion compared with 2.34 billion units worth RM1.66 billion on Wednesday.

The local bourse extended Wednesday's loss to open lower on Thursday and stayed mostly in negative territory throughout the trading session with the sentiment remaining cautious after the 75-basis-point interest rate hikes by the Fed.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key indices regionally also closed lower following broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight.

"Sentiment took an additional hit from Russia’s escalation of its war with Ukraine.

"Back home, we believe the short-term market sentiment will remain cautious with greater volatility due to uncertainties in global equities.

“We reckon the FBM KLCI will see some headwinds as the support at 1,450 has been broken, and the next support level will be at 1,430 followed by 1,400 while resistance is at 1,480," he told Bernama.

Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 declined 0.58% to 27,153.83, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.61% to 18,147.95, and South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.63% to 2,332.31. Shanghai’s SSE index slid 0.27% to 3,108.91 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index was 0.04% better at  3,263.24.

Back home among Bursa heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) shed two sen to RM8.71, Public Bank Bhd eased one sen to RM4.39, and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd dropped 11 sen to RM8.50. CIMB Group Holdings Bhd declined seven sen to RM5.38, and IHH Healthcare Bhd fell 10 sen to RM6.

Of the actives, Top Glove Corp Bhd slid 1.5 sen to 63 sen, Vinvest Capital Holdings Bhd reduced four sen to 19 sen, RGB International Bhd improved one sen to 14 sen, and Ecoscience International Bhd perked up 1.5 sen to 31.5 sen, while Sapura Energy Bhd was flat at four sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 36.54 points to 10,293.55, the FBMT 100 Index lost 38.38 points to 10,032.25, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 31.67 points to 10,358.22.

The FBM ACE bagged 40.53 points to 4,818.65, and the FBM 70 gained 21.75 points to 12,554.3.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index was 5.71 points easier at 719.87, the Plantation Index shed 1.13 points to 6,844.69, the Financial Services Index shrank 65.4 points to 16,334.45, and the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 1.44 points to 174.24.

The Main Market volume decreased to 1.29 billion shares worth RM1.32 billion from 1.59 billion shares worth RM1.4 billion on Wednesday.

Warrants turnover expanded to 232.67 million units valued at RM34.08 million from 224.96 million units valued at RM34.11 million previously.

The ACE Market volume rose to 646.22 million shares worth RM320.02 million from 528.82 million shares worth RM227.6 million on Wednesday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 232.42 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (322.66 million), construction (30.96 million), technology (86.17 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (57.01 million), property (96.09 million), plantation (18.47 million), REITs (8.38 million), closed/fund (6,000), energy (225.88 million), healthcare (133.37 million), telecommunications and media (23.3 million), transportation and logistics (39.72 million) and utilities (13.5 million).