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 (March 30): The FBM KLCI closed 14.21 points or 1.06% lower today at 1,328.88 as crude oil prices slumped amid jitters from the Covid-19 pandemic’s global economic impact as countries restrict movement to curb the outbreak.
At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,328.88 after falling to its intraday low of 1,317.39, as crude oil prices slumped below U$20 a barrel. Crude oil prices fell on expectation the Covid-19 outbreak will erode demand at a time when the Saudi Arabia-Russia price war leads to anticipation of higher supply of the commodity in world markets.
“The key issue for investors at this moment at this time is how long the pause in economic activity as a result of the virus will continue, and how much of an economic impact will be present.
"What is happening is not just in Malaysia, it is also happening on a global level,” Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd research vice president Vincent Lau told theedgemarkets.com today.
Across Bursa Malaysia today, 2.83 billion shares were traded for RM1.86 billion.
A total of 511 counters declined while 305 gained. Top active stocks included oil and gas-related counters Bumi Armada Bhd and Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, which saw some 64 million and 48 million shares traded respectively.
Bumi Armada’s share price closed down 0.5 sen or 3.7% at 13 sen while Hibiscus fell one sen or 3.08% to 31.5 sen.
Globally, Reuters reported that oil prices fell sharply on Monday, with US crude briefly dropping below US$20 and Brent hitting its lowest level in 18 years, on heightened fears that the global coronavirus shutdown could last for months and demand for fuel could decline further.
It was reported that Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, was down US$2.09, or 8.4%, at US$22.84 by 0917 GMT, after earlier dropping to US$22.58, the lowest since November 2002.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell US$1.11, or 5.2%, to US$20.40. Earlier in the session, WTI fell as low as US$19.92, according to Reuters.
Source: The Edge
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