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 (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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