KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia pared some of its gains at close on Thursday but remained up 0.47%, tracking regional markets.
At 5pm, the 30-stock FBM KLCI index was up 8.68 points, or 0.49% to 1,785.81. The benchmark index had earlier risen to its intra-day high of 1,801.42. The index opened
2.84 points higher at 1,779.97.
Trading volume surged to 4.06 billion shares worth RM3.24bil as compared with Wednesday’s 2.52 billion shares worth RM2.79bil. Market breadth was positive with 597 gainers as compared to 357 losers while 435 counters unchanged.
Movers in the KLCI component stocks included Maybank, which gained 28 sen to RM9.87, pushing the index up by 5.474 points. CIMB rose 13 sen to RM6.34, nudging the index up by 2.175.
Tenaga Nasional lifted the index higher by 2.029 points. The utility giant advanced 20 sen to RM14.56.
Hong Leong Financial Group is the top loser of the day, declining 28 sen to R19.54. Petronas Gas fell 26 sen to RM18.16 and Hong Leong Bank eased 24 sen to RM19.06.
Astro Malaysia Holdings
announced a succession plan that will see group chief content and consumer officer Henry Tan taking the helm from Datuk Rohana Rozhan from end January next year. The pay-TV operator shed 18 sen to RM1.65.
Notwithstanding her resignation as group CEO, on Jan 31, 2019, she will remain on the board as a non-executive director.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei share average rose to more than two-week highs on Thursday to stay above a key technical level. The Nikkei gained 0.9% to 22,823.26, the highest closing price since May 22.
The Hang Seng index rose 0.8%, to 31,512.63, while the China Enterprises Index gained 1%, to 12,407.80 points. South Korean’s Kospi was up 16.82 points or 0.69% at 2,470.58.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that oil prices on Thursday rose on the back of plunging exports by OPEC-member Venezuela, recovering some ground lost in the previous session, although another surge in U.S. production still weighed on markets, traders said.
Brent crude futures were up 26 cents, or 0.35%, to US$75.62 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 19 cents, or 0.29%, at US$64.92 a barrel.
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