KUALA LUMPUR: Continuous buying by funds and gains on heavyweights helped propel the benchmark FBM KLCI index higher on Wednesday.
At closing, the bellwether FBM KLCI added 10.38 points, or 0.64%, to close at 1,643.21 on strong interest in Genting Group stocks as well banking stocks. The market traded within a range of 9.74 points between an intra-day high of 1,645.54 and a low of 1,635.80 during the session.
In the broader market, there were 490 gainers, 329 losers while 414 counters unchanged. Trading volume stood at 2.66 billion shares worth RM1.93bil.
Dealers said continued buying in selected heavyweights pushed the key index to finish higher buoyed by the progress over US-China trade talks.
In today’s session, 22 of the KLCI-component stocks were traded higher, seven counters fell while the remaining one closed unchanged.
Major stock advancers among the FBM KLCI component stocks included IHH Healthcare, which gained 18 sen to RM5.60, Public Bank added 30 sen to RM23, Genting rose 25 sen to RM6.85 and Genting Malaysia advanced 11 sen to RM3.28.
Laggards in the FBM KLCI component stocks included Maxis, which fell four sen to RM5.49, Tenaga declined four sen to RM12.54 and Petronas Chemicals shed two sen to RM9.08.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.0798, up 0.12% against the US dollar.
Brent crude was last traded at US$69.67 per barrel while US crude traded at US$62.69 per barrel.
Among the key regional markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.97% to 21,713.21;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 1.22% to 29,986.39;
CSI 300 rose 1.28% to 4,022.16;
Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.13% to 10,704.38;
South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.2% to 2,203.27 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.95% to 3,310.84.
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