KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed marginally lower on Friday, as cautious sentiment persisted, with investors remaining on the sidelines amid ongoing conflicts in West Asia, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.80 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 1,695.50 from Thursday’s close of 1,698.30. The benchmark index opened 5.82 points higher at 1,704.12, and moved between 1,693.65 and 1,708.12 throughout the day. However, market breadth remained positive, with gainers outnumbering losers 634 to 415, while 521 counters were unchanged, 1,077 untraded and 10 suspended. Turnover improved to 3.38 billion units worth RM2.95 billion from yesterday’s 3.20 billion units worth RM3.50 billion.
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...