KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed lower on Thursday as renewed geopolitical tensions in West Asia weighed on investor sentiment. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.97 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 1,677.64 from Wednesday's close of 1,683.61. The benchmark index opened 2.62 points lower at 1,680.99, and moved between 1,676.18 and 1,683.80 throughout the session. However, market breadth was slightly positive, with gainers leading losers 533 to 504, while 547 counters were unchanged, 1,112 untraded, and 12 suspended. Turnover slipped to 2.64 billion units valued at RM2.19 billion from 2.96 billion units valued at RM2.18 billion on Wednesday.
KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 19): The FBM KLCI fell 3.49 points or 0.2% as the ringgit weakened against the US dollar to levels seen during the 1998 Asian financial crisis.
At 5pm today, the KLCI closed at 1,634.30 points. The ringgit depreciated to its weakest level against the US dollar so far today at 4.4805. Bloomberg reported that the exchange rate was the weakest since January 1998.
Today, JF Apex Securities Bhd research head Lee Chung Cheng told theedgemarkets.com: "Basically the market's performance today is in line with US markets (which were also down) and weak ringgit. We believe there is a lack of catalysts to excite the local market at this point."
The ringgit weakened after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates last week and indicated further hikes in 2017. Such sentiment was in anticipation of higher US inflation due to US President-elect Donald Trump's planned expansionary fiscal policies.
At Bursa Malaysia today, the exchange saw 1.33 billion shares valued at RM1.35 billion traded.
There were 307 gainers and 401 decliners.
Source: The Edge
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