KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed almost flat on Tuesday as buying interest rotated away from index heavyweights towards smaller-cap construction stocks, with sentiment affected by geopolitical uncertainty, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.39 of a point to 1,714.40 from Monday’s close of 1,714.79. The benchmark index opened 1.65 points lower at 1,713.14 and moved between 1,710.44 and 1,714.50 throughout the trading session. The broader market was almost evenly balanced, with decliners leading gainers 548 to 546, while 598 counters were unchanged, 1,107 were untraded and 25 were suspended. Turnover expanded to 4.13 billion units valued at RM3.14 billion from 3.60 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion on Monday.
KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): After moving in negative territory for the most of the day, the FBM KLCI closed higher today on 11th hour bargain-hunting activities in selected heavyweight stocks.
The benchmark index ended the day 0.48 points or 0.03% higher at 1,676.61.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd deputy head of research Vincent Lau said the KLCI's higher closing was due to bargain hunting in oversold component index stocks such as Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and Nestle (M) Bhd.
The late buying interest came despite most regional equity markets trading in the red amid a weaker sentiment ahead of the G20 summit later this week, Lau told theedgemarkets.com.
Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 0.43% today, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.22% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.15%.
On the local front, however, half of the KLCI components were in the green. TM closed 10 sen or 2.47% higher at RM4.15, while IOI Corp Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd both closed up six sen at RM4.26 and RM5.34 respectively.
Nestle, the day's second top gainer, closed 40 sen or 0.27% higher at RM149.
On the broader market, some 1.78 billion shares worth RM1.75 billion were traded. Losers led gainers by 413 to 364, while 394 counters remained unchanged.
Reuters reported that Asian shares were haunted by trade anxiety today while the risk of more dovish talk from the US Federal Reserve pushed down Treasury yields and the US dollar, propelling gold to fresh six-year peaks.
Investors are waiting anxiously to see if anything comes of Sino-US trade talks later this week and sentiment was not helped by reports US President Donald Trump would be content with "any outcome", the newswire added.
Trump is slated to meet one-on-one with at least eight world leaders at the G20 summit in Osaka, including China's President Xi Jinping and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Source: The Edge
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