KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed lower today on profit-taking after a strong three-day rally, and investor sentiment was further shaken in the late afternoon session following news of an earthquake in Myanmar with tremors felt in neighbouring Thailand, said Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 1.44 per cent or 22.08 points to 1,513.65, its intraday low, from Thursday’s close of 1,535.73. The benchmark index opened 4.16 points lower at 1,531.57 and hit an intraday high of 1,533.52 during the midday session. On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 563 to 395, while 408 counters were unchanged, 1,106 untraded, and 133 suspended. Turnover slipped to 2.25 billion units valued at RM2.13 billion from 2.52 billion units worth RM2.41 billion on Thursday.
As crude oil slids further down to a new low since May 2009, the FBM KLCI follow suits with a drop of 1.15%. As at time of writing of this post, the Brent crude oil was at US$51.57 a barrel while US crude oil was at US$48.81. The FBM KLCI closed at 1,716.580 pts, a drop of 20.04 pts or 1.15%. With the oil price slump continued, analysts are not being too optimistic. TA Research chartist Stephen Soo told theedgemarkets.com that he did not see the market rebounding over the immediate term, and that it was possible the market could test new lows this year. For the Top 10 Active, Top 10 Gainers and Top 10 Losers, you may find as below: Iris leads the Top active counter for the day United Plantation Bhd, DKSH Bhd, Ibraco Bhd and Muda Holdings Bhd are among the top 10 gainers today The decliners were lead by British American Tobacco (BAT), Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd Regionally, market is also on a downtrend as oil pr...