KUALA LUMPUR: The local bourse bucked the downtrend seen in most regional stock markets to stay in positive territory amid the weaker sentiment.
At closing, the 30-stock index was up 6.96 points, or 0.42% to 1,678.24. The index opened 0.15 of-a-point weaker at 1,671.13 this morning. Losers outpaced gainers 459 to 421, while 389 counters were unchanged. Volume stood at 3.99 billion units valued at RM2.38mil.
On Bursa Malaysia, shares of Naim Holdings hit limit-up, surging 33.33%, or 30 sen to RM1.20 with 68 million shares traded
Fraser & Neave was one of the top gainers, rising 28 sen to RM35.26. Chin Tek gained 18 sen to RM6.70 and RHB Bank closed 16 sen higher at RM5.79.
Among the losers, KESM declined 75 sen to RM8.68, Petronas Dagangan eased 40 sen to RM25.30 and United Plantations fell 38 sen to RM27.02.
Meanwhile, the ringgit weakened against the US dollar. The ringgit was quoted at 4.1845 against the US dollar at 5.50pm. The local unit fell 0.06% to 5.3002 against the pound sterling, strengthens 0.29% to the Euro at 4.7701 and gained 0.22% to the Singapore dollar at 3.0464.
Elsewhere in the region, most Asian stock markets were subdued on Wednesday as investors remained cautious ahead of key industrial output data from China, amid plummeting risk appetite across broader Asia.
The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.8%, to 3,724.19 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index closed down 1.1% at 3,026.95 points. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.4% to 28,807.45.
Reuters reported that Japan’s Nikkei ended lower on Wednesday as weak machinery orders dragged down shares of machinery makers and exporters, and investors worried about Britain’s exit from the European Union took profits. The Nikkei 225 ended 1% lower to 21,290.24 points.
South Korea’s KOSPI index ended down 8.77 points or 0.41% to 2,148.41 points.
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