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.
After the index's advance in the last few days, we see the FBM KLCI fell 1.33 points or 0.1% as investors locked in gains.
The FBM KLCI index lost 1.33 points or 0.08% on Thursday. The Finance Index increased 0.05% to 14138.02 points, the Properties Index up 0.06% to 1193.05 points and the Plantation Index down 0.09% to 7513.83 points. The market traded within a range of 14.12 points between an intra-day high of 1688.79 and a low of 1674.67 during the session.
Malaysian shares rose in recent days on news 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) was selling its power assets to China General Nuclear Power Corp, instead of Tenaga Nasional Bhd ( Valuation: 1.20, Fundamental: 1.30).
Investors could have perceived such updates as good news for Tenaga, amid concerns Tenaga might overpay for state-owned 1MDB's power assets to bailout the company.
However, as the news passed, the market sensed a lack of catalysts exciting the share market.
Exports based companies are closely watched as as these firms are seen as beneficiaries of a weaker ringgit against the US dollar.
At 5pm, the ringgit weakened to 4.2218 against the US dollar.
Bursa Malaysia ended the day with 2.33 billion shares, valued at RM1.97 billion transacted.
Top gainers included Ajinomoto (M) Bhd and Chee Wah Corp Bhd.
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| Ajinomoto (M) Bhd lead the top gainer for the day |
Top losers were Nestle (M) Bhd and Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd.
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| Nestle (M) Bhd lost RM1.48 as of closing |
The top active counter was Borneo Oil Bhd.
Across the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.49%, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.06%
Reuters reported Asian shares advanced on Thursday, while the euro remained under pressure on growing bets the European Central Bank will roll out more stimulus soon, even as the U.S. Federal Reserve looks set to raise interest rates.
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