KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower amid lacklustre trading today, in line with the downbeat performance in the regional markets. 

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 10.01 points or 0.68 per cent to end at 1,464.0 compared with Tuesday's close of 1,474.01.

The key index opened 1.52 points easier at 1,472.49 and moved between 1,462.60 and 1,473.23 throughout the trading day. 

On the broader market, decliners outpaced advancers 654 to 273, while 378 counters were unchanged, 918 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 3.51 billion units worth RM2.07 billion from Tuesday's 3.38 billion units worth RM1.85 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the weak regional sentiment followed negative cues from the Wall Street performance overnight as higher interest rates continued to pressure market sentiment, and the latest batch of retail earnings raised concerns about the state of US consumer.

Geopolitical concerns also weighed on the market sentiment after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is suspending Russia's participation in a nuclear arms treaty with the US, he added.

"On the domestic front, we believe today's selldown offers an opportunity to bargain hunt for stocks at lower levels. Although sentiments may be cautious, we reckon the FBM KLCI to stage a rebound and expect it to hover at the 1,465-1,480 range for the remainder of the week," Thong told Bernama. 

Regionally, Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.21 per cent to 3,300.04, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.51 per cent to 20,423.84, Japan's Nikkei 225 dipped 1.34 per cent to 27,104.32, while China's SSE Composite Index eased 0.47 per cent to 3,291.15.

Back home, Bursa Malaysia heavyweights CIMB rose three sen to RM5.47, Maybank shed four sen to RM8.66, Public Bank declined two sen to RM4.13, Petronas Chemicals shed 16 sen to RM8.20, and TNB lost 15 sen to RM9.65. 

As for active stocks, SMRT Holdings advanced 2.5 sen to 32.5 sen, Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen, MY EG eased one sen to 65 sen, Velesto edged down half-a-sen to 24 sen, and Scope Industries gave up 2.5 sen to 16.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 72.42 points to 10,639.21, the FBMT 100 Index fell  69.49 points to 10,316.02, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 88.94 points to 10,969.05, the FBM 70 Index slipped 85.63 points to 13,388.86, and the FBM ACE Index declined 38.83 points to 5,480.59. 

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was down by 46.03 points to 15,995.47, the Plantation Index decreased 20.33 points to 6,833.01, the Energy Index fell 11.47 points to 862.0, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 2.73 points to 186.03. 

The Main Market volume increased to 2.29 billion shares worth RM1.73 billion from Tuesday's 1.72 billion shares worth RM1.44 billion. 

Warrants turnover dwindled to 364.31 million units worth RM65.77 million from 424.71 million units worth RM68.59 million yesterday. 

The ACE Market volume shrank to 749.65 million shares worth RM271.48 million from 1.05 billion shares worth RM328.44 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 295.70 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (427.05 million); construction (63.74 million); technology (835.44 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (71.93 million); property (109.13 million); plantation (55.03 million); REITs (11.36 million), closed/fund (11,300); energy (269.81 million); healthcare (70.43 million); telecommunications and media (24.18 million); transportation and logistics (41.0 million); and utilities (16.55 million).

-- BERNAMA