KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished 1% lower on Friday on apparent profit taking following yesterday’s rally while the ringgit appreciated to three months high against the US dollar.
At 5pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI ended 15.34 points lower, or 1.02% at 1,486.54 after hitting an intraday high of 1,504.16. For the week, the FBM KLCI rose 37.22 points, or 2.6%.
Losers thumped gainers at 629 to 347 while 362 counters were unchanged. Turnover stood at 4.4 billion shares worth RM2.75bil.
Ringgit extended its gains and touched a three-month high on Friday. The local unit was quoted at 4.4760, up 0.43% against the greenback at 5pm.
“The next key event to watch for will be the Cabinet line-up and resuming Parliament to re-table Budget 2023. Domestic catalysts for ringgit include a political resolution that paves the way for pro-growth policies and domestic reforms and further OPR hikes,” UOB said in a report.
According to data on Bursa Malaysia, foreign investors acquired RM341mil worth of equities on Thursday after a six-day streak of net outflows.
Local institutions and retailers sold equities worth RM159mil and RM182mil respectively.
Among the losers on Bursa Malaysia, Nestle shed RM1.10 to RM130.40, Malaysian Pacific Industries
lost 44 sen to RM27.40, PPB eased 36 sen to RM16.20 and Dutch Lady declined 28 sen to RM31.10.
Hextar Technologies rose 62 to RM13.60, Computer Forms added 41 sen to RM1.90, Malaysia Airports gained 21 sen to RM6.35 and Hong Leong Industries climbed 18 sen to RM9.40.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries will be closed on Monday, Nov 28, 2022, in conjunction with the special public holiday announced by the 10th Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell nearly 0.2%.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.35%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.5%, South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.14% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.26%.
