KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia saw a follow through selling pressure amid cautious sentiment on Friday, pushing the FBM KLCI into the negative territory for the third straight session.

       The FBM KLCI closed down 12.07 points, or 0.78% to 1,537.83. For the week, the index eased 8.93 points.

       There were 494 gainers, 366 losers and 393 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. Turnover stood at 2.23 billion shares valued at RM1.67bil.

       Dealers said market sentiment remained cautious and expect buying activities should emerge on the local bourse soon.

       The KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly negative, with 23 losers and five gainers while two closed unchanged.

       Among the component stocks, Petronas Dagangan lost 64 sen to RM21.86, Hong Leong Financial Group fell 24 sen to RM19.68, Nestle declined 20 sen to RM133.10 and Hong Leong Bank eased 20 sen to RM20.96.

       Kuala Lumpur Kepong and MR DIY added four sen each to RM26 and RM3.25 respectively.

       On the broader market, Malaysian Pacific Industries jumped RM1.10 to RM33.50, Petron added 59 sen to RM7.39 and Oriental gained 34 sen to RM7.69.

       Serba Dinamik climbed one sen to 11.5 sen with 153.74 million shares traded while Sapura Energy eased 0.5 sen to 5.5 sen with 104.79 million shares done.

       Meanwhile, Brent crude oil fell 77 cents to US$116.84 a barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate crude lost 89 cents to US$71.59 per barrel.