KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed sharply lower on Monday as investors started the holiday-shortened week in a risk-off mood amid relatively quiet trading.
Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will be closed on Tuesday in conjunction with Nuzul Al-Quran. It will resume operations on April 20.
At 5pm, the key index closed down 7.87 points, or 0.5% to 1,581.14, its intraday low.
Broader market sentiment was weak, with 558 losers outpacing 314 gainers and 397 counters which traded unchanged. Turnover was at 2.44 billion shares valued at RM1.57bil.
In today’s session, 23 of the KLCI-component stocks closed lower while four counters chalked up gains.
Hong Leong Financial Group lost 34 sen to RM19, Kuala Lumpur Kepong shed 30 sen to RM26.90, Nestle fell 30 sen to RM132.20 and PPB Group eased 24 sen to RM16.90.
Sime Darby Plantation and Petronas Chemicals rose eight sen each to RM5.15 and RM10.40 respectively. Petronas Gas added four sen to RM16.88 and Press Metal climbed two sen to RM6.54.
On the broader market, F&N tumbled 68 sen to RM22.80, Carlsberg fell 40 sen to RM21.18 and Dutch Lady eased 40 sen to RM33.60.
PMB Technology-WA rose 34 sen to RM13.50, Ajinomoto added 32 sen to RM14.76 and Eco World-WB gained 27 sen to 27.5sen.
Caely closed down three sen to 43 sen while Caely-WB fell 1.5 sen to 12 sen. It has earlier announced that the authorities have frozen the operations of all the bank accounts of its group of companies.
The lingerie manufacturer said it expects an impact on the financial and operational aspects of the group, although it is unable to ascertain the extent of the impact at this juncture.
This latest development comes soon after the group began a forensic audit on one of its subsidiaries, Caely (M) Sdn Bhd.
On the external front, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was lower by 0.63%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 1.08%, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.11%, China’s CSI300 lost 0.53% and Singapore's Straits Times index closed 0.98% lower.