KUALA LUMPUR (June 21): The FBM KLCI fell 5.14 points or 0.3% on Tenaga Nasional Bhd share losses and as lower crude oil prices hit Bursa Malaysia oil and gas-related shares.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,775.57 points. Tenaga shares fell 14 sen to RM14.18 to become Bursa Malaysia's 7th largest decliner.

Tenaga shares fell after the state-controlled utility said the Employees Provident Fund and Permodalan Nasional Bhd cut their respective stakes in Tenaga.

On the broader market, analysts said investors could be taking profit across Bursa Malaysia ahead of the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays starting this Sunday (June 25).

Malaysian markets will be closed this Monday and Tuesday (June 26 and 27) for Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Today, Jupiter Securities Sdn Bhd analyst Benny Lee told theedgemarkets.com: “Because of the long weekend for Malaysia, investors might be taking profit, so we might see a downtrend but the market should pick up after Hari Raya.”
 
Across Bursa Malaysia, 1.69 billion shares valued at RM2.41 billion were transacted. There were 284 gainers and 574 decliners.

Top active counter Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd fell 2.5 sen to 39 sen with 34.2 million shares transacted. Hibiscus could have taken the cue from lower crude oil prices.

Reuters reported that a renewed slump in oil prices to seven-month lows put Asian investors on edge on Wednesday, overshadowing a decision by US index provider MSCI to add mainland Chinese stocks to one of its popular benchmarks.

It was reported that Brent eased 10 cents to US$45.92 a barrel, while US crude futures lost 6 cents to US$43.45.