KUALA LUMPUR (May 23): The FBM KLCI fell 7.78 points or 0.4% on profit taking and as an explosion in the UK's Manchester city, clouded sentiment.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed at its intraday low at 1,767.17 points, as investors took profit in index-linked Petronas Gas Bhd and Petronas Dagangan Bhd shares.

Petronas Gas fell 62 sen to RM19.18, while Petronas Dagangan dropped 36 sen to RM24.68. Petronas Gas and Petronas Dagangan were the fourth and seventh-largest decliners on Bursa Malaysia, respectively.

Bursa Malaysia saw 2.91 billion shares, valued at RM2.8 billion changed hands. There were 636 decliners versus 292 gainers.

Oil and gas companies' shares could have taken the cue from lower crude oil prices, after the U.S. proposed to sell half of its crude oil inventory.

Reuters reported oil prices fell on Tuesday, weighed down by U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to sell off half of the country's huge oil stockpile, threatening a future glut, even as OPEC and its allies cut output to try and tighten the market. Brent crude ended a run of four days of consecutive gains to trade 36 cents lower at US$53.51 per barrel at 0831 GMT.

In the UK, Reuters reported the sterling slipped on Tuesday after a suspected suicide attack killed at least 22 people and wounded 59 at a pop concert in the English city of Manchester, while the euro held gains made, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was "too weak".

In Malaysia, Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd research head Edmund Tham told theedgemarkets.com that other than the news on the UK explosion, the Malaysian share market also fell on profit taking.

“All (Bursa Malaysia) industry indices were down today, we didn’t see anything other than the (suspected) terrorist attack news so far.

"But we believe there were some profit taking activities going on, as well. The market decline was not entirely due to the (UK) news, which affects sentiment,” Tham said.