KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed on Tuesday with a solid rally to its highest in about 21 months while the ringgit weakened to its lowest in 26 years.
The FBM KLCI surged 16.98 points, or 1.1% to 1,555.59, its highest since May 31, 2022, when the index hit 1,570.10. The KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly positive, with 27 gainers and one loser.
In the broader market, there were 615 stocks advancing against 425 stocks declining while 472 counters unchanged. About 3.7 billion shares, valued at RM2.94bil changed hands.
The ringgit weakened as much as 0.2% to its lowest level since January 1998. It hit an intraday high of 4.8850 in January 1998.
The local unit depreciated 0.25% to 4.7992 against the US dollar at 5.20 pm. It fell 0.31% against the Singapore dollar at a new low of 3.5682.
Bank Negara, in a statement, said the recent performance of the ringgit, similar to other regional currencies, has been influenced by external factors.
It added that some of these factors include market adjustment to changing US interest rate expectations, geopolitical concerns and uncertainty surrounding China’s economic prospects.
“Bank Negara is of the view that the current level of the ringgit does not reflect the positive prospects of the Malaysian economy going forward,” it said.
On the local bourse, United Plantations was the top gainer, rising 48 sen to RM21.
PPB added 36 sen to RM15.50, Dialog gained 34 sen to RM2.20 and PETRONAS Chemicals rose 25 sen to RM7.09.
Heineken was the biggest loser for the day, shedding 52 sen to RM22.90. Malaysian Pacific Industries
fell 24 sen to RM26.26, Allianz slid 14 sen to RM19.24 and Dutch Lady declined 10 sen to RM23.70.
Markets in Asia ended the day broadly higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.57% to 16,247.51, China’s CSI 300 Index was up 0.21% to 3,410.85 and Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.42% to 2,922.73.
Japan’s Nikkei 225, however, was down 0.28% to 38,363.61 while South Korea’s Kospi closed down 0.84% at 2,657.79.
