Share prices on Bursa Malaysia fell on Thursday, March 11, due to profit-taking activities after the market had rallied to fresh two-year highs on Wednesday.

Although sentiment has improved in recent weeks, the FBM KLCI had been alternating between losses and gains over the past week. The index hit new two-year highs on Wednesday, but was punctuated by intermittent profit-taking activities in between.

Positively, the daily gains have so far mostly outweighed losses, with the index still comfortably above the psychologically important 1,300-point level, which is seen as crucial to sustain domestic investor interest.

On Thursday, there were also renewed fears over potential monetary tightening measures in China, which prompted major regional markets to reverse their earlier morning gains into losses.

Indeed, most regional bourses had started the day higher, including ours, buoyed by a positive close on Wall Street. However, regional markets reversed direction and traded lower after the release of higher-than-expected Chinese inflation data, which showed consumer prices rising 2.7% in February from a year earlier, and above the 2.4% rate expected by economists

On the local front, Malaysia's economic recovery remained on track with industrial production index in January surging 12.7% y-y and 2.9% m-m, led by the manufacturing sector.

On Thursday, the FBM KLCI rose as much as six points in the morning before turning negative from about 10.30am onwards. The index ended the day down 6.8 points, giving back two-thirds of Wednesday’s 10.3 point gain. Still, the index has gained a total of 37 points over the last week.   

Market breadth was negative with declining stocks beating advancing ones by a 3-to-2 margin. Trading volume fell from 935 million to 792 million shares.

Actively traded stocks include KNM, SAAG, Fitters, Maybank, Berjaya Corp, IOI Corp, Axiata and MRCB. Major gainers include Apex, APM, Ho Hup and DiGi, Losers include Supermax, Daibochi, Kossan and Hartalega.