FBM KLCI climbs for third day

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI finished higher for the third straight session on Tuesday on continued buying support from heavyweights, particularly in the banking sector.

At closing, the benchmark index advanced 5.19 points, or 0.36% to 1,451.00. The market traded within a range of 10.84 points between an intra-day high of 1,452.47 and a low of 1,441.63 during the session.

There were 437 gainers, 389 losers and 456 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. Turnover stood at 3.17 billion shares valued at RM1.7bil.

In today’s session, 19 of the KLCI-component stocks were traded higher while six counters declined while three counters remained unchanged.

Leading the mover on the index was CIMB, climbing eight sen to RM5.60, pushing the index up by 1.2392 points. Maybank closed five sen higher at RM8.97, adding 0.8753 points to the index while Sime Darby Plantation rose seven sen to RM4.54, nudging the index up by 0.7031 points.

CelcomDigi, which fell 10 sen to RM4.29, dragged the index lower by 1.7038 points. Maxis slid four sen to RM3.94, pushing the index 0.4550 points lower.

On the broader market, Hextar Technologies rose 40 sen to RM27.18, F&N added 20 sen to RM25.20, Sunmow tumbled 35 sen to RM1.20 and Panasonic Manufacturing fell 12 sen to RM19.98.

In terms of fund flows, foreign funds and local institutions were net buyers on Monday acquiring equities worth RM1mil and RM23mil respectively.

Local retailers offloaded RM24mil worth of equities on Monday.

Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 94 cents to US$81 and Brent lost US$1.02 to US$84.32 per barrel.

Asia benchmark finished mostly lower as Hang Seng Index and Shanghai Composite shed 1.81% and 0.25% respectively as risk appetite weakened after weak trade data from China.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.38% to 32,377.29, South Korea’s Kospi closed down 0.26% at 2,573.98 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.05% to 3,311.58.