MALAYSIAN shares closed flat today due to pre-weekend selling and profit-taking, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 0.39 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 1,270.61. Losers outnumbered gainers 401 to 267.

At today's close, the FBM Emas Index dropped 17.37 points to 8,458.35, the FBM Top 100 decreased 12.46 points to 8,273.46 and the FBM 70 fell 52.16 points to 8,148.87.

The FBM ACE slid 39.05 points to 4,290.95 while the Industrial Index rose 12.82 points to 2,710.13.

The Plantation Index surged 14.01 points to 6,245.94 but the Finance Index dropped 57.75 points to 10,902.77.

A dealer said retail players stayed out of the market ahead of a long weekend.

Maybank Investment technical analyst Lee Cheng Hooi said the bourse ended flat as “pre-weekend selling persisted ahead of the holiday break.”

The bourse is closed Friday for a public holiday.

Lee said going forward, investors should only nibble on dips as profit-taking is likely to keep a lid on the market, adding that buying interest would emerge at 1,255 and 1,269.

“It was a very quiet trading day with thin participation from funds,” Lee was quoted as saying by Dow Jones Newswires.

Among gainers, top mobile operator, Maxis added 1.3 per cent to RM5.37, national carmaker Proton gained 2.2 per cent to RM4.10 and plantation giant Sime Darby rose 0.3 per cent to RM9.01.
Construction firm Gamuda lost 5.2 per cent to RM2.75 . - Agencies