KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index closed lower today, in line with most regional markets, as investors adjusted their risk exposure amid spiralling oil prices driven by the ongoing West Asia conflict, now in its second month. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) retreated by 24.75 points or 1.44 per cent to 1,687.90 from Friday’s close of 1,712.65. The market bellwether opened 10.57 points weaker at 1,702.08 and fluctuated between 1,682.79 and 1,702.38. The broader market was bearish, with decliners thumping advancers 956 to 371. A total of 373 counters were unchanged, 1,042 untraded and 134 suspended. Turnover expanded to 3.98 billion units worth RM4.85 billion from last Friday’s 2.97 billion units worth RM3.25 billion.
FBM KLCI continued to inch slightly higher, as the market closed at 1,768.41 points, up by 3.97 points.
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| Market closed slightly higher |
This happened despite the fact that the oil prices continued to remain sluggish while the ringgit remains weak. Among the top gainers are Asia File Corporation Bhd, Ibraco Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK). On the other hand, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd and AirAsia were the top decliners.
As expected, AirAsia was also the top active counter today as the AirAsia Flight QZ8510 went missing.
Many analysts are looking at AirAsia and expect to see some price weakness with the latest news.
The oil prices remained sluggish although it appeared to have stabilize while the ringgit seems to have near its bottom.
It is important to note that the market lack of movement could be due to the holiday season. Many analysts are expecting to see the year end window dressing.
Regionally, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.82%,whilst Japan's Nikkei was down 0.5%, while South Korea's Kospi was down 1.04%.
With some fresh gains on Wall Street and also the surge in Chinese shares (thanks to the optimism that the Chinese government would spur lending and continue to spur growth) contributed to Asian's rise in the stock.
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