KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 27): The FBM KLCI fell three points or 0.16% on profit taking and plantation share losses.

The KLCI ended at 1,859.58 at 5pm today as plantation shares like Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and Sime Darby Bhd fell. Plantation shares, which form a major component of the KLCI, had tracked lower crude palm oil prices.

Reuters reported that Malaysian palm oil futures fell to their lowest in nearly two weeks on Monday, heading towards their fourth straight session of losses as a modest pick-up in export demand was offset by strength in the ringgit and lingering concerns over rising yields.

The KLCI's loss today came on profit taking after the index rose 16.5 points or 0.89% last Friday.

Today, analysts remained optimistic on the KLCI despite the index closing lower. An analyst said foreign investors were coming back to the Malaysian market.

“The KLCI dipped today because of the major profit taking by investors, in line with the recent run-up. But it will rebound, maybe in the near term.

“We have also seen foreign investors coming back to the market and that should in a way be good for the market,” he told theedgemarkets.com.

Top gainers on Bursa Malaysia included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd and Tasek Corp Bhd. Decliners were led by Nestle (M) Bhd followed by Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd.

The most actively traded stock was Frontken Corp Bhd.

Bursa Malaysia saw 250 gainers, 639 decliners while 277 counters were unchanged. A total of 2.12 billion shares valued at RM2.055 billion were traded.  

The ringgit strengthened against most currencies. The ringgit appreciated to 3.5675 versus a weaker US dollar and 2.6763 compared to the Singapore dollar.

Reuters reported that soft US data helped to keep the dollar near a three-week low against its index basket of currencies. This is because a recent run of weak US economic reports, including Friday's business spending data, has pushed back investors' expectations on the timing of the first rate hike towards the end of the year.

Across Asian share markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.18% while South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.33%

Reuters reported that a rally in Chinese stocks led Asian equities to 7-year highs thanks to expectations of more stimulus from Beijing with stellar earnings from a few US hi-tech giants further underpinning a broadly positive mood.