10/01/2013 (Bernama) - Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed lower today amid the lack of fresh leads and some mild profit taking following the recent gains, dealers said.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.36 points to close at 1,684.57, after hovering between 1,684.57 and 1,693.72 throughout trade.

Mercury Securities Head of Research Edmund Tham said apart from the mild profit taking, investors also trimmed their positions.

"It is still early in the year, so they are re-balancing their position and planning the strategy for this first quarter," he told Bernama today.

The lower crude palm oil price also contributed to today's losses, he said, adding that investors were also awaiting more announcements on U.S. corporate earnings, after Alcoa Inc reported a better-than-expected revenue and an encouraging outlook for 2013.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index fell 8.43 points to 15,365.72, the Industrial Index lost 4.29 points to 2,798.10 and Plantation Index edged down 39.78 points to 8,165.40.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 31.60 points to 11,453.02, the FBMT100 fell 31.54 points to 11,300.43, FBM Mid 70 Index declined 14.21 points to 12,457.15 while the FBM Ace Index rose 20.42 points to 4,255.30.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 387 to 310, while 341 counters were unchanged, 598 untraded and 25 suspended.

Total volume increased to 1.154 billion units valued at RM1.339 billion from 1.104 billion units valued at RM1.587 billion previously.

Of the actives, Patimas Computers rose 3.5 sen to 10 sen, Nextnation Communications and Flonic Hi-Tec Warrants lost half-a-sen each to 10.5 sen and 5.5 sen respectively.

Among heavyweights, Maybank fell two sen to RM9.02, Sime Darby lost three sen to RM9.57 and CIMB declined one sen to RM7.63.

Volume on the Main Market decreased to 804.1 million units valued at RM1.294 billion from 818.227 million units valued at RM1.547 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE market rose to 237.016 million shares worth RM30.415 million from 180.90 million shares worth RM23.45 million on Wednesday.

Warrants increased to 109.938 million units valued at RM14.405 million from 101.036 million units valued at RM14.499 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 99.144 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 149.854 million, construction 41.724 million, trade and services 211.765 million, technology 179.875 million, infrastructure 16.177 million, finance 31.931 million, hotels 287,500, properties 44.01 million, plantations 18.041 million, mining 20,000, REITs 10.986 million and closed/fund 282,000.