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 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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