KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed marginally lower on Friday, as cautious sentiment persisted, with investors remaining on the sidelines amid ongoing conflicts in West Asia, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.80 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 1,695.50 from Thursday’s close of 1,698.30. The benchmark index opened 5.82 points higher at 1,704.12, and moved between 1,693.65 and 1,708.12 throughout the day. However, market breadth remained positive, with gainers outnumbering losers 634 to 415, while 521 counters were unchanged, 1,077 untraded and 10 suspended. Turnover improved to 3.38 billion units worth RM2.95 billion from yesterday’s 3.20 billion units worth RM3.50 billion.
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 5): The FBM KLCI closed 14.52 points or 0.8% higher as anticipation of Malaysia's 14th general election (GE14) in 2018 and a stronger ringgit drove investors’ sentiment.
At 5pm, the KLCI closed at its intraday high of 1,817.97 points.
In currency markets, the ringgit appreciated to 3.9975 against the US dollar at 5:50pm after trading between 3.9887 and 4.0055 today.
“The (stock market) rally is expected to firm up towards GE14 and people are buying on stronger ringgit," Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd retail research analyst Loui Low Ley Yee told theedgemarkets.com.
Low said Malaysian shares' "near-term performance depends on corporate results (announcements) in February." He said "if earnings are weak, there might be a (stock market) consolidation.”
Across Bursa Malaysia today, trading volume was 5.84 billion shares worth RM3.94 billion.
Notable gainers included Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd and Axiata Group Bhd.
Sapura Energy Bhd was the most-actively traded counte with some 332 million shares transacted. Sapura Energy rose 9.5 sen to 81 sen.
Source: The Edge
Comments
Post a Comment