KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished the day in the red despite the regional bourses' bullish performances after positive data for China's factory activity.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined by 5.86 points to end at 1,840.19 points after moving between 1,832.54 points and 1,842.15 points throughout the day.
The HSBC China Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 50.5 in September from August's final reading of 50.2, beating a Reuters poll forecast of 50.
On the local front, the benchmark index was weighed down by losses in heavyweights such as British American Tobacco, which fell RM1.62 to RM68.98, as well as, Genting Plantations, which erased 31 sen to RM9.99.
Kenanga Research said negative regional news flow might dampen traders' enthusiasm in the near term.
"However, in the coming week, the lingering positive sentiment from last week's overnight policy rate would fuel positive market sentiment and support the index to retest the 1,861 resistance level," it said in a note here today.
The market breadth negative with losers outpacing gainers by 527 to 284 while 330 counters remained unchanged, 487 untraded and 14 others were suspended.
Total volume fell to 2.35 billion shares worth RM2.23 billion from 2.59 billion shares worth RM1.84 billion recorded yesterday.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank and Axiata were unchanged at RM10.04 and RM6.96, respectively, Public Bank lost 12 sen to RM19 and Tenaga Nasional gained eight sen to RM12.28.
Among active counters, Ni Hsin Resources edged up 5.5 sen to 51 sen and Focus Dynamics was up half-a-sen to 12.5 sen.
On the scoreboard, the Industrial Index fell 17.96 points to 3,184.96 points, Finance Index slipped 91.42 points to 17,259.28 points, Plantation Index edged down 45.77 points to 8,376.95 points and the FBM Emas Shariah was down 30.81 points to 13,135.27 points.
The FBM Emas Index was 44.71 points lower at 12,879.67 points, FBMT100 Index fell 42.73 points to 12,459.85 points and FBM 70 declined 60.6 points to 14,233.09 points.
The FBM Ace surged 90.55 points to 7,386.79 points.
Main Market volume eased to 1.63 billion units worth RM2.06 billion from 1.74 billion units worth RM1.65 billion on Monday.
Turnover on the ACE Market fell to 691.27 million shares worth RM166.06 million from 741.36 million shares valued at RM185.35 previously.
Warrants expanded to 25.26 million unit worth RM3.36 million from 20.96 million units worth RM3.84 million yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 179.6 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (283.61 million), construction (73.66 million), trade and services (655.79 million), technology (95.11 million), infrastructure (14.87 million), SPAC (109.57 million), finance (50.08 million), hotels (690,200), properties (96.48 million), plantations (68.3 million), mining (138,700), REITs (7.36 million), and closed/fund (28,400).-- Bernama