KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index ended higher, amid an overall cautious market sentiment, on bargain-hunting activities, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 12.87 points or 0.85 per cent to the day’s high of 1,526.52 from Friday’s close of 1,513.65. The benchmark index had opened 3.49 points higher at 1,517.14 and reached an intraday low of 1,514.08. In the broader market, decliners thumped gainers 637 to 288, while 428 counters were unchanged, 995 untraded and nine suspended. Turnover went up to 2.37 billion units valued at RM2.03 billion from Friday’s 2.25 billion units valued at RM2.13 billion. The market was closed on March 31 and April 1 for the Hari Raya public holidays.
As Brent crude oil prices hit a five and a half year low of nearly US$57 per barrel and the ringgit hit a near five year low of 3.5027 to the dollar, the FBM KLCI also slips 0.09% today and closes at 1,766.830.
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| FBM KLCI closes at 1,766.830 |
There were 382 gainers against 402 decliners, while 304 counters remained unchanged.
In our post earlier on the oil price slump, we were of the opinion that Bursa Malaysia would follow suit as per the declining trend of the oil price as we see a sharp drop.
Today's top gainers: Hong Leong Capital Berhad, British American Tobacco Bhd and Apex Healthcare Bhd.
The top decliners: Multi-Usage Holdings Bhd, Press Metal Bhd, and Aeon Co. Bhd.
Hubline Bhd was the most actively traded stock for today.
While the oil price dropped about 1%, the FBM KLCI only decline slightly at about 0.09%. This is most likely because of the support from the local institutional investors.
The holiday season also contribute to one of the reasons why the market did not react in tandem to falling oil prices.
Regionally, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 1.14%, Japan's Nikkei was 1.57% lower, and South Korea's Kospi was also lower by 0.64%.
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