KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI gave up early gains to close at the day's low on Friday, while the ringgit climbed marginally against the US dollar.
The 30-stock index closed down 0.29 of a point to 1,549.12, its intraday low. The index hit an intraday high of 1,558.51. On a weekly basis, the index added 4.71 points.
In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers with 593 stocks ending higher and 318 stocks finishing lower.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.3905, up 0.32% against the US dollar.
The local currency was down 0.39% against the euro at 4.6424. It fell 0.43% against the pound sterling at 5.4822 and fell 0.41% against the Singapore dollar at 3.1870.
On Bursa Malaysia, Hong Leong Financial Group rose 40 sen to RM19.50, PMB Technology-LA gained 36 sen to RM16.56 and Kobay added 31 sen to RM3.51.
Nestle, the top loser on Bursa Malaysia, fell 80 sen to RM133.60. Petronas Gas fell 56 sen to RM16.80, Heineken lost 36 sen to RM24.48 and Khind eased 35 sen to RM2.95.
Serba Dinamik
was the most actively traded stock. The stock, which saw 156.51 million shares traded, slipped one sen to 13.5 sen.
Reuters reported that oil prices fell on Friday as investors worried that weakening global economic growth and tighter central bank monetary policy could curb a recovery in fuel demand.
US light crude oil fell 56 cents to US$111.65 a barrel and Brent climbed four cents to US$112.08 per barrel.
Among the key regional markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 1.27% to 26,739.03;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 2.96% to 20,717.24;
Shanghai Composite Index added 1.6% to 3,146.57;
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.78% to 16,144.85;
South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.81% to 2,639.29 and;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 1.65% to 3,243.47 points.
