KUALA LUMPUR (July 28): The recent selling on US tech stocks has dampened the market sentiment on Bursa Malaysia. Nonetheless, the recovery on crude oil prices has triggered interest in selected oil and gas stocks that have been battered down of late.

The benchmark FBM KLCI dropped 2.99 points to 1,767.08 points today. For the week, the FBM KLCI, however, gained 0.45% from 1,759.16 last Friday.

Share prices were mostly lower today. The scoreboard shows that losers outnumbered gainers in a ratio of 456 to 326, while 411 stocks remained unchanged.

Trading volume across the board was slightly higher today at 1.64 billion shares worth RM2.203 billion compared with 1.59 billion shares worth RM1.97 billion yesterday.

Head of Research at Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd Pong Teng Siew said buying interest in the local bourse was not strong as market sentiment was affected by the decline in US tech stocks, which created uncertainties ahead.

"Investor confidence was lowered and buying volume thinned [last Friday] after the weak performance of tech counters, as usually local retail investors look to tech stocks for inspiration," said Pong.

"However, there are pockets of interest such as in oil and gas stocks, which are most likely riding on the recent improvement in oil prices," he added.

Pong added that oil and gas counters might see more activity in the near term should the current uptrend on the crude oil prices continue.

Top gainers include United Plantations Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd and Hengyuan Refining Co Bhd, while Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd and New Hoong Fatt Holdings Bhd topped the losers list.

Elsewhere in Asian markets, Reuters reported that share prices in Tokyo bourse were heading south mainly caused by the selling wave on the tech stocks after weakness on the Nasdaq market. The Nikkei 225 dropped 0.6% to 19,959.84 today. For the week, it declined 0.7%, falling for a second week.