The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 6.43 points to at 1,832.26, after moving between 1,831.37 and 1,836.46 points throughout the day.

Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd Head of Research Pong Teng Siew said the decline was partly due to profit taking activities as fund investors took advantage to book profits after the recent decline.

"They took the opportunity to sell when the market is up," he told Bernama.

Pong said foreign funds continued to be net sellers as their focus shifted to regional stocks while local traders slowed down their purchases.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index rose 27.629 points to 16,548.3, the Plantation Index climbed 36.01 points to 8,972.6 but the Industrial Index contracted 9.37 points to 3,156.39.

The FBM Emas Index lost 15.529 points to 12,708.98, the FBMT100 Index erased 18.971 points to 12,378.6 while FBM 70 jumped 73.601 points to 14,037.70 and the FBM Ace garnered 29.65 points to 6,589.51.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 450 to 357, with 325 counters unchanged, 491 untraded, and 15 others were suspended.

Volume slipped to 1.57 billion shares, worth RM1.81 billion from 2.28 billion shares, worth RM2.38 billion, transacted on Thursday. -- Bernama