KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia spent most of the trading session in red before closing on a positive note, lifted by last-minute buying while ringgit climbs against the US dollar.
At 5pm, the 30-stock index was up 4.74 points to 1,726.67, its intra-day high. The index opened 0.72 of-a-point better at 1,722.65.
In the broader market, there were 424 gainers, 414 losers and 417 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. Turnover was at 2.04 billion shares valued at RM1.99bil.
Stock market data showed foreign funds were net sellers at RM68.5mil while local institutions were net buyers at RM67mil and retailers net buyers also at RM1.5mil.
Analysts said the FBM KLCI started the week on a positive note, closing higher at 1726.67 points amid overnight gain in US markets. The performance of our local bourse was lifted by buying interest in heavy weight counters such as Petronas Chemical, Digi.Com and Telekom Malaysia.
Ringgit was quoted at 4.0440, appreciating 0.17% at 6pm on improved buying interest and amid easing US-China trade war tensions.
On Bursa Malaysia, Top Glove led the gainers’ list, adding 39 sen to RM10.30 while Heineken was the biggest decliner, falling 18 sen to RM23.10.
Movers in the KLCI component stocks included Petronas Chemicals which pushed the index up by 3.557. Petronas Chemicals rose 25 sen to RM8.87. Digi lifted the index higher by 1.521 while Maybank nudged the index up by 1.168.
Digi gained 11 sen to RM4.27 and Maybank added six sen to RM9.57.
Among the actives, MyEG rose 10.5 sen to RM1.01, Sino Hua-An gained 0.5 to 32 sen and MRCB fell 0.5 sen to 68.5 sen.
Elsewhere in the region, Asian shares closed mix. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended 1.85% higher to 22,597.35, China Composite Index fell 0.61% to 2,814.04, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.05% to 28,539.66 while South Korea’s Kospi ended down 0.39% at 2,301.99.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
