KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the day marginally higher in line with the performance of its regional peers, as worries over a US recession receded after Treasury yields rose.
At 5pm, the 30-stock index was nearly flat to close at 1,649.94 points, up 0.79 point against the closing on Tuesday. The benchmark index opened 1.33 points lower at 1,647.82 this morning. The market traded within a range of 6.47 points between an intra-day high of 1653.58 and a low of 1647.11 during the session.
Decliners outnumbered gainers 373 to 367, while 450 counters remained unchanged. Volume stood at 2.47 billion units valued at RM1.76bil.
In today’s session, 13 of the KLCI-component stocks were traded higher, eight counters fell while the remaining nine closed unchanged.
Dealers said market sentiment was muted and investor sentiment remained fragile as concerns over a possible U.S. recession lingered.
Top gainers on Bursa Malaysia included Nestle, which added 80 sen to RM145.50, British American Tobacco
rose 42 sen to RM35.70, Dutch Lady gained 32 sen to RM64 while KL Kepong added 22 sen to RM24.58.
The decliners included Timecom, Shangri-La and United Plantations.
Among the banks, Maybank rose two sen to RM9.25, Public Bank shed two sen to RM23.74, CIMB closed unchanged at RM5.12 while RHB Bank closed two sen lower at RM5.70.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei bounced from five-week lows to close sharply higher on Tuesday.
The Nikkei share average ended 2.15 percent higher at 21,428.39, after recording its biggest drop since late December on Monday, Reuters reported.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.15% at 28,566.91 points. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index was steady at 11,231.73.
China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 1.51% at 2,997.10 points while the blue-chip CSI300 index was down 1.13%.
South Korea’s KOSPI index closed up 3.94 points or 0.18% to 2,148.80 points.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
