KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed higher, buoyed by Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) decision to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) at 2.75 per cent, alongside positive cues from Wall Street. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 19.30 points, or 1.19 per cent, to 1,635.86 from Wednesday’s close of 1,616.56. The benchmark index opened 6.72 points higher at 1,623.28, and fluctuated between an intraday high of 1,642.44 and a low of 1,622.62 during the trading session. However, market breadth was negative, with losers outnumbering gainers 723 to 497, while 466 counters were unchanged, 1,075 untraded and 10 suspended. Turnover rose to 3.74 billion units valued at RM3.61 billion compared with yesterday’s 2.81 billion units valued at RM2.57 billion.
The vote for the most powerful man in this planet, (or woman in this case) is entering into its final act, and the market is shaken by the growing uncertainties surrounding it. Come Nov 8, it’s either Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton or Republican nominee, Donald Trump that will become the new president-elect of the United States of America (US). While average polls compiled by RealClearPolitics website shows Clinton led by 7.1 percentage points in mid-October, the gap has narrowed down to just 1.7 percentage points following the FBI’s eleventh-hour resuscitation of her email controversy (as of Nov 6). Real Clear Politics average on US election polls (Source: Real Clear Politics) DOES IT MATTER? THE EQUITY INDEX SAYS SO Well, here is a quick look at the world equity index in the past one week, and it's shocking. In the Americas region In the Asia Pacific region In Europe, Middle East & Africa region Source: Bloomberg website It is sh...