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 (Dec 29): The FBM KLCI rose for the third consecutive day today, rising 0.47% or 7.63 points to close at 1,637.93.
The broader market, however, was mixed with trading remaining subdued as most investors were staying away during this year-end holiday season.
Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd research head Edmund Tham said the local stock market is still performing below expectations.
"The sentiment is not that great as we speak and the market today is still not very sound," he said when contacted over the phone. "Trade volumes have yet to fully recover and we might only see some recovery once traders are back from the year-end break."
"However, the ringgit is stabilising, with oil prices hovering between US$53 (RM237.68) and US$54 per barrel. For starters, this is an advantage to us as we are an oil-exporting country," he added.
Going forward, he said investors are expected to pay close attention to the construction industry, especially sector players bidding for infrastructure jobs from the government.
There were 370 gainers and 371 losers on Bursa Malaysia today. A total of 1.77 billion shares valued at RM1.4 billion were traded.
The top three active counters were Sumatec Resources Bhd, Borneo Oil Bhd and Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd.
Reuters today reported that shares across Asian markets were subdued in view of the mild setback faced by Wall Street following weeks of gains, while a pullback in US yields stimulated year-end profit-taking in the US dollar.
Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.32%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.17%, and South Korea's Kospi nudged 0.1% higher.
Source: The Edge
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