KUALA LUMPUR: Local institutions and retail investors have held back the FBM KLCI’s advance as they took profit while foreign funds were net buyers on Wednesday.
BIMB Securities Research said on Thursday foreign funds were net buyers at RM146.6mil while local institutions and retail investors were net sellers at –RM122.5mil and –RM24.1mil.
The KLCI ended marginally lower, losing -1.51 points or 0.09% to 1,686.35, in line with its regional peers.
“We expect the local market to trade around 1,680 followed by 1,690,” it said.
BIMB Research said US stocks closed higher in low volume trade on Wednesday, helped by a rise in oil prices, as investors awaited Thursday's ECB decision on monetary policy.
ECB President Mario Draghi is expected to announce more stimulative measures, with hopes of expansion of the asset purchase program and a possible further cut to the already negative deposit rate.
The Fed and BOJ are due to hold meetings next week. European stocks came off session highs to end about half a percent higher.
European stocks closed mostly higher on Wednesday, as investors eyed the fluctuation in commodity stocks, ahead of this week's ECB policy meeting.
The DJIA gained 0.21% to end at 17,000.36 and S&P500 was up 0.51% to 1,989.26 respectively.
In Asia, most markets stumbled to close mixed on Wednesday as renewed concerns over China's economy following its recent lower-than-expected trade data.
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