KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed almost flat on Tuesday as buying interest rotated away from index heavyweights towards smaller-cap construction stocks, with sentiment affected by geopolitical uncertainty, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.39 of a point to 1,714.40 from Monday’s close of 1,714.79. The benchmark index opened 1.65 points lower at 1,713.14 and moved between 1,710.44 and 1,714.50 throughout the trading session. The broader market was almost evenly balanced, with decliners leading gainers 548 to 546, while 598 counters were unchanged, 1,107 were untraded and 25 were suspended. Turnover expanded to 4.13 billion units valued at RM3.14 billion from 3.60 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion on Monday.
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 21): The FBM KLCI settled 0.21% or 3.48 points higher at 1,627.28 points today on bargain hunting activities after having languished in the red for three days last week.
"The FBM KLCI closed in the green in tandem with the gains in key regional indices, mainly due to bargain hunting activities," said Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd analyst Kenneth Leong.
Gainers were led by Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd and Far East Holdings Bhd.
Meanwhile, Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, United Plantations Bhd and British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd were among the top decliners.
The bourse saw a total of 1.38 billion shares worth RM1.38 billion traded throughout the day, with 365 gainers and 409 decliners.
APFT Bhd was the most active stock, with some 57 million shares done.
According to Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd head of research Pong Teng Siew, the day's trading was generally listless and very narrow, with gains seen mostly in the banking group from Hong Leong Financial Group, Hong Leong Bank Bhd and Malayan Banking Bhd.
Smaller cap stocks and the ACE market also did relatively well.
According to Leong, export-related technology stocks such as Unisem (M) Bhd outperformed the broader market with gains of some 1.1% in the technology index.
According to Reuters, Asian shares traded defensively today, undermined by fears of fund outflows amid a strengthening US dollar and rising US bond yields since Donald Trump was elected as the US president.
Japan's Nikkei reportedly rose 0.8% to hit a 10½-month high, thanks to the weaker yen.
Source: The Edge
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