KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed on a merry note on Christmas Eve as the benchmark index rose 0.81%, spurred by year-end window-dressing on heavyweight counters.
The FBM KLCI ended up 13.54 points to 1,683.82, its intra-day high. The index opened 0.29 point lower at 1,669.99 this morning. The market traded within a range of 25.72 points between an intra-day high of 1683.82 and a low of 1658.10 during the session.
Trading volume decreased to 1.26 billion shares worth RM875.80mil compared with Friday’s 1.75 billion shares worth RM1.88bil. There were 428 gainers, 332 losers and 348 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia.
In today’s session, 17 of the KLCI-component stocks were traded higher while 10 counters declined while three counters remained unchanged.
Dealers said buying interest on blue-chip stocks such as Tenaga Nasional Bhd
(TNB), Axiata Group and Top Glove to dress up their portfolio has brought some Christmas cheer to the benchmark index despite a relatively subdued regional markets.
They said the political uncertainty in the US continued to dampen investor’ risk appetite.
Leading the mover on the index was TNB, climbing 52 sen to RM14, pushing the index up by 5.266 points. Axiata closed 16 sen higher at RM4.02, adding 2.584 points to the index while IHH Healthcare rose 11 sen to RM5.46 nudging the index up by 1.718 points.
Sime Darby Plantations was one of the biggest losers among the component stocks, shedding 16 sen to RM4.63, dragging the index down by 1.938 points.
On Bursa Malaysia, Ajinomoto was the top gainer, up RM1.08 to RM19, BAT rose 60 sen to RM35.90 while Petronas Dagangan added 50 sen to RM26.50.
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, China stocks rose as Beijing vowed to step up support for the economy next year amid a lingering trade war with the US, Reuters reported.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.3%, to 3,038.20, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4% to 2,527.01 points. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, which closed at 12 pm ahead of the upcoming Christmas holiday, fell 0.4% to 25,651.38.
South Korea’s Kospi Index fell 6.48 points or 0.31% at 2,055.01 while markets in Japan are closed on Monday for a public holiday.
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