KUALA LUMPUR: The benchmark index on Bursa Malaysia ended a half-day trading session in a negative territory again, the eighth consecutive session, while the ringgit lost ground.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI finished at 1,763, down 1.24 point, after fluctuating between 1,767.18 and 1,760.77. Turnover was 1.24 billion shares valued at RM817.6mil. There were 295 gainers, 383 losers and 359 counters unchanged.
Most markets in the region traded in a narrow range in the absence of any catalysts. The US dollar traded near a one-month high against a basket of currencies, underpinned by optimism that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration may be making progress on fiscal reforms.
At midday, the ringgit was quoted at 4.2323 against the greenback. The local unit snapped its three-day losing streaks to open higher against the US dollar in early trade.
Citing a Global Research 4Q17 by Standard Chartered Bank, Bernama reported that the sentiment towards the currency onshore has improved with better US dollar supply dynamics.
It added that the ringgit was among the most undervalued emerging market currencies and the overall positioning for the currency among foreign investors remained extremely light.
Overnight, US stocks rose as gains in financial shares were powered by growing expectations for a December interest rate hike and on hopes President Donald Trump’s administration may be making progress on a tax plan. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.25% to 22,340.71,
European stocks also climbed following optimism on US’ tax cut.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said with the revival of buying interest in the US stocks, it believes the investors are pricing in the next policy by Trump, where the on-going discussion on the corporate tax reform may push through over the near term.
“We think the policy should be able to enhance the earnings generally among the companies.
“Meanwhile, the overdue rebound could be seen today on our local front after a series of losing streak on the KLCI and the buying support could spillover from the stronger performance on the overnight Wall Street. The FBM KLCI may revisit 1,770-1,780,” it said.
On Bursa Malaysia, Tasek was the top gainer, up 24 sen to RM12.90, British America Tobacco rose 20 sen to RM44.50 while Sam Engineering added 15 sen to RM6.80. The top losers included Panasonic Manufacturing
, HEIM and Alliance Bank.
MISC was one the laggards among the KLCI component stocks as its fell nine sen to RM7.30 dragging the 30-stock index down by 0.6606 points. Genting Malaysia shed six sen to RM5.36, nudging the index down by 0.5859. IHH Healthcare lost four sen to RM5.79 pushing the index lower by 0.5419.
Elsewhere in the region, Asian shares closed mixed with Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.6%, the Shanghai Composite Index eased 0.16%, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.07% and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was down 0.28%.
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