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 (Sept 8): The FBM KLCI saw a modest pullback today on profit taking, erasing gains accumulated over the past two trading days.
The benchmark index closed the day 3.08 points or 0.17% lower at 1,779.90. It opened at 1,781.07 points and moved between 1,775.06 and 1,782.81.
Malacca Securities head of research Victor Wan said the index's retreat was a "healthy pullback", as gains in the market, which largely reflected the positive economic outlook, were overdone.
"There are very few catalysts at this point, as the market has gone up by about 8% year-to-date. The gains were overdone so it is expected that the market pulls back today," Wan told theedgemarkets.com.
On the broader market, however, gainers outpaced decliners by 473 to 384 while 404 counters were unchanged.
Trading volume rose to 2.97 billion shares worth RM2.27 billion, from 2.63 billion shares valued at RM2.41 billion yesterday.
Red chip company Sino Hua-An International Bhd was the most active counter with 313.39 million shares exchanged. It closed at 23.5 sen, up 5.5 sen or 30.56%.
Elsewhere in the region, indices were mostly in red in tandem with geopolitical risks and natural disasters which spooked investors in the United States.
This, however, excluded Hong Kong's Hang Seng, which rose 145.55 points or 0.53% to close at 27,668.4, supported by the strengthening of the Hong Kong dollar.
Japan's Nikkei fell 121.70 points or 0.63% to 19,274.82, while South Korea's Kospi closed 2.47 points or 0.11% lower at 2,343.72, due to the downward revision of Japan's GDP growth and geopolitical tensions in North Korea.
Source: The Edge
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