KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s key index finished marginally higher, supported by strong buying interest in consumer-related counters, amid mixed performance across regional markets. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 1.40 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 1,711.39 from Tuesday's close of 1,709.99. The key index opened 12.36 points firmer at 1,722.35 and moved between 1,711.31 and 1,722.63 throughout the session. Market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers 678 to 493, while 549 counters were unchanged, 1,016 untraded and 34 suspended. Turnover increased to 4.50 billion units worth RM3.45 billion from 3.93 billion units worth RM3.45 billion on Tuesday.
KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): The FBM KLCI closed up 7.11 points or 0.4% on what appeared to be institutional investors' window-dressing activities at the end of 2018’s first quarter.
At 5pm today, the KLCI closed at 1,863.46. Across Bursa Malaysia, 1.82 billion shares were traded for RM1.9 billion.
“Most government-linked companies seem to be the ones being traded higher, which could be due to window dressing,” Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd head of retail research Loui Low told theedgemarkets.com.
He said sentiment across Bursa Malaysia seemed subdued as the total volume of shares traded remained below the two billion mark. Yesterday's share trade volume was about 1.88 billion shares.
Today, Bursa Malaysia top gainers included KLCI-linked stocks Nestle (M) Bhd and Petronas Dagangan Bhd. The most-actively traded stocks included Sapura Energy Bhd, PUC Bhd and SKH Consortium Bhd.
Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.4% while South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.39%. Hong Kong markets were closed for the Good Friday holiday today (March 30) and will remain closed on Monday (April 2) for the Easter Monday break.
In Japan today, stocks finished a weak first quarter on a positive note, with index heavyweight stocks rising and technology firms jumping in sympathy with a rebound in their US counterparts, Reuters reported.
Reuters added that Wall Street surged on Thursday, bringing an upbeat end to a tumultuous, holiday-shortened week as technology stocks rebounded, but the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted their biggest quarterly declines in more than two years. US markets will be closed on Friday (March 30) for Good Friday.
Source: The Edge

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