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.
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

Comments
Post a Comment