KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia rebounded to close higher on Wednesday on selective buying of defensive stocks after a volatile trading session. IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said consumer products and services stocks lifted the key index higher, overcoming lingering geopolitical concerns. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.08 points to 1,715.56 from yesterday’s close of 1,712.48. The benchmark index, which opened 1.91 points higher at 1,714.39, moved between 1,710.79 and 1,720.59 during the day’s trading. In the broader market, gainers outstripped decliners 550 to 476, while 612 counters were unchanged, 1,129 untraded, and 48 suspended. Turnover rose to 2.96 billion units valued at RM2.48 billion from 2.94 billion units valued at RM2.56 billion on Tuesday.
As crude oil slids further down to a new low since May 2009, the FBM KLCI follow suits with a drop of 1.15%. As at time of writing of this post, the Brent crude oil was at US$51.57 a barrel while US crude oil was at US$48.81. The FBM KLCI closed at 1,716.580 pts, a drop of 20.04 pts or 1.15%. With the oil price slump continued, analysts are not being too optimistic. TA Research chartist Stephen Soo told theedgemarkets.com that he did not see the market rebounding over the immediate term, and that it was possible the market could test new lows this year. For the Top 10 Active, Top 10 Gainers and Top 10 Losers, you may find as below: Iris leads the Top active counter for the day United Plantation Bhd, DKSH Bhd, Ibraco Bhd and Muda Holdings Bhd are among the top 10 gainers today The decliners were lead by British American Tobacco (BAT), Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd Regionally, market is also on a downtrend as oil pr...