KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia's key index closed at an intraday high today, supported by continued buying interest even as renewed geopolitical tensions and a weaker overnight lead from Wall Street following the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) decision to stand pat on interest rates weighed on broader sentiment. The Fed has decided to hold rates steady for the fifth consecutive meeting, with the Federal Funds Rate unchanged between 3.50 per cent and 3.75 per cent. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.84 points to 1,720.40 from yesterday’s close of 1,715.56. The benchmark index, which opened 1.14 points lower at 1,714.42, hit its lowest level of 1,710.69 in early trade before gaining momentum for the rest of the day. However, the broader market was negative with losers outpacing gainers 581 to 411, while 612 counters were unchanged, 1,173 untraded, and 87 suspended. Turnover declined to 2.49 billion units valued at RM2.25 billion from ...
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 23): The FBM KLCI sank 24.87 points or 1.44% today to close below the 1,700-point psychological level for the first time since July 11.
The benchmark index had opened the day at 1,721.50 and rose to 1,721.91 before retreating thereafter to close at its intra-day low of 1,697.60.
The KLCI has declined for 13 days out of the 17 trading days in October thus far, for a fall of nearly 100 points from its closing of 1,791.10 on Sept 28.
"Generally, in the past couple of years, the October month is quite positive mainly due to the budget rally. But with the change of the government this year, and the government's hints of a less positive budget, I think there will be no budget rally this year.
"The government has also hinted that they are disposing [of] assets in government-linked companies, which could be contributing to the selloff in the big cap stocks as well," Leong said.
Market breadth today was negative with 727 decliners outstripping 170 gainers, while 330 counters closed unchanged. However, trading volume was higher at a total of 2.01 billion shares worth RM2.01 billion, compared with Monday's 1.95 billion shares worth RM1.68 billion.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Petronas Gas Bhd were among the largest decliners, closing down by 2.9% and 2.17% respectively.
"The weakness today was in tandem with the general negative market sentiment across Asia stock markets, which was dragged down by the pullout of US-Russia Nuclear Arms Treaty, and also the escalating US-China trade tension," said Leong.
Japan's Nikkei 225 and South Korea's Kospi were down 2.67% and 2.57% respectively, and in China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index closed 2.26% lower while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 3.08%.
Back home, the most active stock of the day was Prestariang Bhd, followed by Sapura Energy Bhd and My EG Services Bhd.
Malaysia-listed Hang Seng Index-linked put warrants dominated the gainers list, besides Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Padini Holdings Bhd and Heineken Malaysia Bhd.
Source: The Edge
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