KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended higher on Tuesday, outperforming most regional markets as investors continued to rotate towards commodity and plantation-related stocks, an analyst said. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.47 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 1,733.36 compared with Monday’s close of 1,725.89. The benchmark index opened 1.63 points higher at 1,727.52, and fluctuated between 1,723.60 and 1,734.53 throughout the day. On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 762 to 438, while 576 counters were unchanged, 1,075 untraded and 16 suspended. Turnover expanded to 3.74 billion units valued at RM2.91 billion from 3.45 billion units valued at RM2.74 billion on Monday.
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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