Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia concluded the trading day on a lower note as broad-based selling activities dominated the market ahead of the long weekend in celebration of Merdeka Day.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 15.84 points, closing at 1,725.88 compared to the previous day's 1,741.72. The index opened 1.98 points higher at 1,743.70 and experienced fluctuations between 1,715.91 and 1,745.06 throughout the trading session.

The broader market saw a significant number of decliners, with 917 counters losing ground against 405 gainers, while 461 counters remained unchanged. Additionally, 1,070 counters were untraded, and 98 were suspended. The turnover surged to 5.06 billion units valued at RM6.51 billion, up from 3.85 billion units valued at RM3.46 billion on Thursday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, noted that market sentiment was cautious due to the broad-based sell-off. Despite this, market participation remained robust, with approximately 5 billion shares worth RM6.5 billion being traded. Thong highlighted that the high trading value relative to market volume indicated significant activity in higher-priced and larger-cap stocks. He also mentioned that while market breadth was weak, the strong turnover suggested that investors were actively purchasing shares at lower prices. Thong expects selective bargain hunting to provide market support when trading resumes next week.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose by six sen to RM10.68, and IHH Healthcare increased by 10 sen to RM8.25. In contrast, Public Bank fell by five sen to RM4.95, CIMB Group declined by 11 sen to RM7.96, and Tenaga Nasional dropped by 16 sen to RM14.14.

In terms of the most active stocks, Zetrix AI decreased by 30 sen to 29.5 sen, Tanco fell by two sen to 18.5 sen, and JAKS Resources remained flat at 12.5 sen. Meanwhile, Inari Amertron gained six sen to RM2.56, and Oppstar decreased by 4.5 sen to 77 sen.

Top gainers included United Plantations, which surged 66 sen to RM31.94, Spritzer, which rose 33 sen to RM3.55, MBM Resources, which improved by 26 sen to RM5.30, Mega Fortris, which gained 19 sen to RM2.30, and APM Automotive, which added 17 sen to RM3.

Conversely, top losers were Nestle, which dropped RM2.90 to RM100.10, Malaysian Pacific Industries, which decreased by RM1.26 to RM41.56, MISC, which slipped 56 sen to RM7.92, and both LPI Capital and Fraser and Neave, which lost 42 sen each to RM13.48 and RM25.48, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index fell by 228.27 points to 18,084.89. The FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased by 144.83 points to 12,552.09, and the FBM Emas Index dropped by 127.48 points to 12,764.63. The FBM Top 100 Index lost 126.41 points to 12,574.85, while the FBM ACE Index declined by 102.84 points to 5,249.38.

By sector, the Plantation Index decreased by 33.55 points to 9,309.66. The Financial Services Index lost 129.81 points to 20,243.47, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down by 0.11 of a point to 189.27, and the Energy Index went down by 6.68 points to 778.38.

The Main Market volume increased to 3.39 billion units valued at RM6.11 billion, compared with 2.13 billion units valued at RM3.11 billion on Thursday. Warrant turnover eased to 991.46 million units worth RM152.07 million, versus 1.20 billion units worth RM156.70 million previously. The ACE Market volume rose to 681.03 million units valued at RM245.54 million from 516.25 million units valued at RM198.44 million the day before.

In terms of sectoral trading, consumer products and services counters accounted for 345.38 million shares on the Main Market. Industrial products and services saw 419.16 million shares traded, construction had 219.04 million, technology 1.43 billion, financial services 238.55 million, property 252.78 million, plantation 67.26 million, real estate investment trusts 18.68 million, closed-end fund 20,500, energy 101.20 million, healthcare 88.53 million, telecommunications and media 58.10 million, transportation and logistics 45.59 million, utilities 102.85 million, and business trusts 78,300.