KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower today on major profit taking by foreign investors, fuelled by the weakening ringgit, dealers said.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 30.92 points or 1.79 per cent to 1,694.64, after fluctuating between 1,694.64 and 1,722.3 throughout the day.

A dealer told Bernama the selling occurred throughout the trading session, prompted by the weak ringgit which fell to a new 17-year low, in being quoted at 3.9005/9035 against the greenback at close today.

Meanwhile, an economist, Datuk Jalilah Baba told Bernama, Malaysia's fundamentals are still strong.

"In terms of equity markets, foreign investors come and go. Market fluctuations are normal and investors are always seeking profitable markets to land their investments.

"Economic woes experienced by Malaysia's major trading countries also have its impact. But, this is temporary as the countries concerned take steps to overcome it," she added.

Jalilah is also Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) President.

On the local scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index declined 204.89 points to 11,677.95, the FBMT100 Index fell 203.33 points to 11,362.78 and the FBM Shariah contracted 244.26 points to 12,134.57.

The FBM 70 went down 209.9 points to 12,563.31 and the FBM Ace declined 111.62 points to 6,103.86.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index lost 130.39 points to 15,295.62, the Plantation Index fell 123.72 points to 7,258.81 and the Industrial Index slid 59.16 points to 3,226.06.

Decliners outnumbered gainers 686 to 283, with 283 counters unchanged, 644 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 1.65 billion units valued at RM2.02 billion from 1.22 billion units valued at RM1.39 billion on Wednesday.

Among the losers, British American Tobacco declined RM1.80 to RM64.22, Petronas Gas fell 42 sen to RM22.10, as TNB and Nestle both slipped 40 sen each to RM11.38 and RM72.50 respectively.

Among actives, The Media Shoppe was down 1.5 sen to 5.5 sen, Vsolar fell one sen to 12 sen, Frontken trimmed one sen to 24.5 sen, and RGB lost half-a-sen to 14 sen, while APFT rose half-a-sen to 23 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank fell 12 sen to RM9.07, Public Bank was down 14 sen to RM19, TNB declined 40 sen to RM11.38, Axiata eased 29 sen to RM6.14 and Sime Darby lost 22 sen to RM8.57.

Main Market volume rose to 980.97 million shares worth RM1.88 billion against Wednesday's 856.78 million shares worth RM1.3 billion.

Turnover on the ACE Market increased to 402.93 million units valued at RM75.73 million from 204.67 million units valued at RM48.7 million previously.

Warrants improved to 266.97 million shares worth RM59.16 million from 160.07 million shares worth RM40.32 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 108.08 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (212.98 million), construction (68.98 million), trade and services (395.96 million), technology (35.03 million), infrastructure (26.69 million), SPAC (7.5 million), finance (42.37 million), hotels (1.45 million), properties (59.53 million), plantations (13.79 million), mining (10,000), REITs (8.54 million), and closed/fund (47,000). -- BERNAMA