KLCI ends lower for fourth session in a row

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia saw a follow through selling pressure on Thursday, pushing the benchmark index lower for the fourth straight session.

At 5 pm, the bellwether FBM KLCI closed down 2.58 points at 1,527.75. It rose to an intraday high of 1,532.82.

On the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 518 versus 403 while 416 counters were unchanged. Market turnover stood at 3.38 billion shares valued at RM2.25bil.

According to data on Bursa Malaysia, foreign investors and local institutions sold RM28mil and RM14mil of local equities respectively on Wednesday. Local retailers acquired RM42mil worth of equities.

On Bursa Malaysia, Fraser & Neave was the top loser, falling 52 sen to RM24.88, BAT lost 44 sen to RM13.10 and Rapid shed 20 sen to RM8.85.

The gainers included Sam Engineering, Coraza, Complete Logistics and Nestle.

Among the banks, Maybank fell four sen to RM8.28, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.17, CIMB Group lost eight sen to RM5.25, RHB Bank rose two sen to RM5.78 and Hong Leong Bank shed 16 sen to RM19.34.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.1885, up 0.13% against the US dollar.

Oil prices fell from 2014 highs as investors took profits. Brent crude fell 78 cents to US$87.66 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at US$86.55 per barrel, down 41 cents.

Reuters reported that China’s one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was lowered by 10 basis points, and the five-year LPR was reduced by 5 basis points - the first reduction since April 2020.

Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 3.42% to 24,952.35, South Korea’s Kospi closed up 0.72% at 2,862.68, Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended up 1.11% to 27,772.93 while China’s CSI300 ended 0.9% higher at 4,823.51.