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 (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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