KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the day on a positive note, backed by gains in selected heavyweights as investors looked forward to the trade talks between the US and China.
At closing, the bellwether FBM KLCI ended 4.11 points firmer at 1,787.58. The index moved between a low of 1,782.74 and a high of 1,791.14 throughout the trading session. The index opened 0.96 of-a-point higher at 1,784.43 this morning.
The broader market was weak with decliners outpacing advancers. There were 383 gainers with 497 losers and 411 counters unchanged. Turnover stood at 2.28 billion shares worth RM2.05bil.
Dealers said continued buying in selected heavyweights pushed the key index to finish the day in positive territory. In addition, they said the optimism over US-China trade talks improved risk appetite.
Stock market data showed foreign funds were net buyers on Monday at RM229.6mil while local institutions were net sellers at RM177mil and local retail investors at RM52.6mil.
For the week ended Aug 17, foreign funds offloaded RM631.4mil net of local equities,wiping out the foreign net inflow of RM458.2mil recorded in the week before.
Laggards in the KLCI component stocks were led by Petronas Chemicals (PetChem), which pushed the index up by 4.293 points. PetChem rose 30 sen to RM9.44.
Axiata rose 10 sen to RM4.45, pushing the index up by 1.623 points, Digi gained nine sen to RM4.63 nudging the index higher by 1.252 and Genting advanced nine sen to RM8.70 pushing index 0.622 higher.
Among the banks, Maybank added one sen to RM9.79, Public Bank closed unchanged at RM24.50, CIMB Group
fell one sen to RM5.88 and Hong Leong Bank gained eight sen to RM19.22.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.1005 against the US dollar, appreciating 0.12% at 5.40pm.
Elsewhere in the region, the Hang Seng index rose 1.4% to 27,598.02, while the China Enterprises Index gained 1.1% to 10,632.36 points. The Shanghai Composite index ended up 29.50 points or 1.1% at 2,668.97.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 share average dropped 0.3% to 22,199.00 while South Korea’s Kospi closed up 0.83 points or 0.04% at 2,247.88.
Reuters reported that Brent oil stabilised near US$72 per barrel on Monday after several weeks of decline, weighed down by concerns over slowing global economic growth but supported by an expected fall in supply from Iran due to U.S.
Brent crude futures, a benchmark for international oil prices, were at $72.18 per barrel, up 35 cents. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up eight cents at US$65.99 per barrel.
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