KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed higher on Wednesday, with the key index rising 1.10 per cent, in line with firm gains across regional markets following a strong rally on Wall Street overnight, said an analyst. IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said the improvement in sentiment was underpinned by easing geopolitical concerns and a decline in oil prices. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increase 18.54 points or 1.10 per cent to 1,708.90 from Tuesday’s close of 1,690.36. The benchmark index opened 25.58 points higher at 1,715.94, marking its intraday high, and hit a low of 1,700.20 during the mid-morning session. The broader market was positive, with gainers leading decliners 780 to 444. A total of 475 counters were unchanged, 926 untraded and 11 suspended.
KUALA LUMPUR (May 2): The FBM KLCI had today closed 10.05 points or 0.61% lower while Bursa Malaysia's small market capitalisation (small cap) index fell by a larger quantum as investors took cue from less-optimistic views on local financial markets and the ringgit and after US stocks fell overnight on Wednesday.
At 5pm today, the KLCI closed at 1,632.24 while the small cap index fell 173.72 points or 1.27% to 13,447.39.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong said today investors might have take cue from market views, including one from DBS Bank Ltd which wrote in a note on Tuesday (April 30) that it had changed its view on Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) from bullish to neutral.
"MGS valuations are no longer cheap and risks around performance have risen. Technicals could be less supportive ahead. Risks and uncertainties around FTSE Russell’s September review is clouding the outlook; MGS and MYR (ringgit) could trade more volatile," DBS said.
Today, Leong told theedgemarkets.com that the KLCI exhibited bearish technical indicators amid weaker sentiment and as investors evaluated the impact of the weakening ringgit on Malaysian stocks.
“The fall in the KLCI is also partly due to the depreciation of the ringgit against the US dollar,” said Leong.
At the time of writing, the ringgit weakened to 4.1380 against the US dollar.
Over the last one year, the ringgit had weakened to current levels from its strongest point against the US dollar at 3.9330.
Across Bursa Malaysia today, 2.68 billion shares worth RM1.95 billion were traded. There were over 600 decliners versus about 220 gainers. Top decliners included KLCI stocks Digi.Com Bhd and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd.
Malaysian shares resumed trading today after markets were closed on Wednesday for the Labour Day holiday.
Today, Malaysian shares fell following US shares' overnight drop on Wednesday.
Reuters reported that US stocks ended lower on Wednesday and the S&P 500 snapped a three-day streak of record high closes as comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell appeared to dampen hopes the central bank could move later this year to cut interest rates.
Source: The Edge
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