KUALA LUMPUR: Despite opening higher at the start of the opening bell, the FBM KLCI succumbed to profit taking activities on Monday.
The benchmark index closed down 2.68 points, or 0.17% to 1,604.61 after moving between 1,613.46 and 1,603.22.
Market breadth turned negative as losers overpowered the gainers on a ratio of 774-to-317 stocks. Traded volumes rose to 4.4 billion shares valued at RM2.36bil as profit taking activities took control.
Dealers said the performance of the local bourse mirrored the performance of its peers. They noted that the technology index was the biggest loser today, falling 4.8%.
Bursa Malaysia technology index ended down 3.68 points, or 4.8% at 72.95.
In a note early today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors should favour stocks under the recovery theme while avoiding the technology sector.
“Meanwhile, several economic releases for this week include the US inflation rate and the European Central Bank interest rate decision which will be released on April 12 and 14, respectively,” it said.
On Bursa Malaysia, Malaysian Pacific Industries (MPI), Vitrox Corp, Greatech and Pentamaster saw their share prices impacted.
MPI tumbled RM2.20 to RM33.08, ViTrox lost 60 sen to RM7.50, Greatech fell 37 sen to RM4.06 and Pentamaster gave up 23 sen to RM3.46.
PMB Technology fell 58 sen to RM18.42, Batu Kawan eased 52 sen to RM26.40 and Petronas Dagangan declined 42 sen to RM21.52.
F&N jumped 66 sen to RM22.18, Ta Ann added 39 sen to RM5.98, Dutch Lady rose 38 sen to RM33.38, Sarawak Oil Palms gained 33 sen to RM6.04 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong advanced 30 sen to RM27.
On the external front, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan dropped 1.54%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.61% to close at 26,821.52 while South Korea’s Kospi ended down 0.27% at 2,693.10.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed down 3.03% to 21,208.30.
China’s CSI300 index fell 3.1% to 4,100.07, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.6% to 3,167.13.