KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed lower on Friday amid mixed regional market performance as investors turned cautious over a possible rate hike by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and upcoming US economic data that may influence the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) interest rate decision next week. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) pared most earlier losses to settle 4.55 points easier, or 0.28 per cent, to 1,616.52 from Thursday’s close of 1,621.07. The benchmark index, which opened 0.37 of-a-point lower at 1,620.70, moved between 1,609.67 and 1,621.25 throughout the day. The broader market was negative, with decliners outpacing advancers 604 to 439. A total of 550 counters were unchanged, 1,151 untraded, and 18 suspended. Turnover declined to 3.17 billion units worth RM2.24 billion from 4.48 billion units worth RM2.75 billion yesterday. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-presiden...
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 24): The FBM KLCI ended the week lower today as investors were either staying at the sidelines waiting for fresh leads ahead of the 14th General Election or switching to regional markets for higher returns.
At 5pm, the benchmark index fell 4.04 points or 0.23% to close at 1,717.23 points, after ranging between 1,713.26 points and 1,720.38 points.
The benchmark index has declined by 4.2% or 75.12 points from this year's peak of 1,792.35 points on June 14.
Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Danny Wong told theedgemarkets.com that the Malaysia market weakness may persist for the next few weeks.
“I think the sentiment will remain weak over the next few weeks because of uncertainties on the upcoming general election. If you look at the regional market, there are many other markets which look more attractive than us. As foreign investors, it is very normal for them to opt out of Malaysia and go to somewhere that gives them better returns,” he said.
“Having said that, the mid-and small cap stocks are still attractive in Malaysia, judging by their recent quarterly financial results,” he added.
On Bursa Malaysia, some 1.84 billion shares worth some RM2.53 billion were traded today. On the scoreboard, losers outnumbered gainers 476 to 322, with 462 counters remaining unchanged.
Trive Property Group Bhd was the most actively traded counter, with 54.9 million shares traded. The counter went up 0.5 sen to 6.5 sen. Low-cost long haul carrier AirAsia X Bhd was the second most actively traded stock with 47.39 million shares changing hands. Its share price dropped two sen to 36 sen.
The ringgit weakened against the US dollar to 4.1170, and against the Singapore dollar to 3.0558 today.
Most major regional market indices closed on a positive note today, with Japan’s Nikkei gaining 0.12%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index going up by 0.53% and South Korean Kospi advancing 0.28%.
Reuters reported that Asian shares hovered below their 10-year peak on Friday while mainland Chinese shares dropped to three-month lows after big falls the previous day on concerns about fresh government steps to curb financial risks and an ongoing rout in the Chinese bond market.
Source: The Edge
Comments
Post a Comment