KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI traded sideways today as investors remained on the sidelines with the return of global growth concerns.
Dealers said selling pressure on in the region had also curbed interest in the local bourse, dampened by the absence of major funds and fresh leads
At 5pm, the 30-stock index was nearly flat to close at 1,686.95 points, up 0.13 point against the closing on Wednesday. Turnover was at 3.05 billion shares valued at RM2.41bil. There were 428 gainers against 459 losers while 389 counters unchanged.
KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly in the positive, with 16 gainers, six decliners and eight counters unchanged.
Leading the gain on the index was IHH Healthcare, rising six sen to RM5.90, pushing the index up by 0.916 points. Petronas Chemicals gained six sen to RM9.36, nudging the index up by 0.836 while Axiata rose three sen to RM4.19, contributing 0.474 points to the index.
Prestariang is the most active counter with 221.6 million shares traded. The counter jumped 22.73%, or 10 sen to 54 sen following news of the possible revival of its national immigration control system (SKIN) project by the government.
Elsewhere in the region, Asian shares closed lower with Japan’s Nikkei hit a one-week low on Thursday. Nikkei 225 ended down 0.65% at 21,456.01 after going as low as 21,402.12, its weakest since Feb. 28.
Chinese blue-chips fell on Thursday after four straight sessions of gains after the finance minister reiterated that China would not seek to flood a slowing economy with stimulus, Reuters reported.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.14% at 3,106.42, having earlier lost as much as 0.9%. The blue-chip CSI300 index ended 1.02% lower.
Hong Kong’s the Hang Seng index was down 258.15 points or 0.89% at 28,779.45.
South Korea’s Kospi stock index fell for a fifth straight session. The benchmark index fell 9.81 points, or 0.45%, to 2,165.79, hitting its lowest close since Jan.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
