STOCKS on Bursa Malaysia ended marginally lower yesterday, with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipping 5.16 points to 1,871.58 after moving between 1,871.28 and 1,875.9 throughout the day.

Maybank Investment Bank chief chartist Lee Cheng Hooi said the day's trading, dominated by institutional funds, was mainly influenced by the marginal depreciation of the ringgit against the US dollar.The Industrial Index gained 4.51 points to 3,196.56, but the Finance Index slipped 3.37 points to 17,145.14, and the Plantation Index fell 44.59 points to 9,188.25. The FBM Emas Index was 23.84 points lower at 12,950.5, the FBMT100 Index declined 28.47 points to 12,586.06, and the FBM 70 eased 7.2 points to 14,046.2, but the FBM ACE Index rose 18.84 points to 6,654.89.

Decliners led advancers 401 to 384, while 310 counters were unchanged, 533 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Total volume decreased to 1.36 billion shares worth RM1.41 billion from 1.26 billion shares valued at RM1.39 billion on Friday.

Among the actives, MAS added one sen to 21 sen but iDimension and Sona Petroleum shed 1.5 sen each to 14 sen and 51.5 sen, respectively. Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose two sen to RM9.82, but Public Bank fell four sen to RM20.78, while TNB, CIMB and Axiata were all two sen lower at RM11.70, RM7.17 and RM6.87, respectively.Meanwhile, FBM KLCI futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended lower. Spot month June 2014 shed 2.5 points to 1,874, July 2014 and December 2014 lost four points to 1,876 and 1,872.5, respectively, while September 2014 fell five points to 1,872.

Turnover rose to 2,420 lots from 2,344 lots on Friday, while open interest decreased to 33,257 contracts from 33,641 previously. Bernama