MONEY MASTER

  KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 28): The FBM KLCI closed at the day’s low after some index-linked stocks came under selling in the final trading hour.  The index finished 29.57 points or 1.9% lower at 1,525.21, a near two-month low.  Areca Capital Sdn Bhd CEO Danny Wong Teck Meng said the late selling in selective KLCI stocks is likely due to portfolio restructuring.  The portfolio rebalancing action taken by institutional funds, he told theedgemarkets.com, comes in the wake of the inclusion of two glove counters as component stocks of the MSCI Global Standard index with effect from Sept 1.  MSCI Global Standard had announced on Aug 13 that Kossan Rubber Industries and Supermax Corp Bhd will be new constituents of the index, while IJM Corp Bhd will be removed from the list.   Among the KLCI component stocks that retreated in the final hour today are Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd, PPB Group Bhd and Petronas Chemical Bhd (PetChem).  Hap Seng closed 68 sen o...

    KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 27): The FBMKLCI closed higher today, snapping three consecutive days of declines, mainly lifted by Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and Sime Darby Plantation Bhd, which announced strong quarterly results today. At 5pm, the benchmark index was up 5.2 points or 0.34% at 1,554.78. Market breadth, however, was negative, with 545 losers versus 503 gainers. Across the bourse, a total of 13.71 billion shares worth RM5.56 billion were traded. TM, which was among Bursa Malaysia’s top gainers of the day, closed 8.97% or 34 sen higher at RM4.13, after some 13.69 million shares were done. Sime Darby Plantation was up 1.18% or six sen higher at RM5.16. When contacted, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Loui Low said the KLCI finished higher amid choppy trading, lifted mainly by TM. He said he continues to favour the telco sector, where he expects to see further upside as it benefits from the new norm of working from home following the COVID-19 outbrea...

    KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 26): The FBM KLCI continued to close lower today, for the third consecutive day, by 5.38 points or 0.35%, mainly dragged by banking and telecommunication stocks. At 5pm, the local benchmark index closed at 1,549.39 points — nearly a two-month low. In today’s session, it was mostly trading in the negative territory between the range of 1,538.26 and 1,558.95 points. Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Loui Low believes that the downward bias on the FBM KLCI will still remain until the conclusion of the reporting season. “The broader market especially the small caps and lower liners are the ones in focus,” he told theedgemarkets.com, adding that it could be due to ample liquidity in the markets and finding some short-term trading ahead of the busy reporting season. “We still think it is better to be cautious as stocks might trade higher until the results are released and should the results be weaker than expected, the share price might t...