KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI climbed to a four-year high on Monday, while the ringgit continued to strengthen below 4.40, driven by strong second-quarter (2Q) GDP and trade data.
At closing, the 30-stock rose 24.80 points, or 1.53% to 1,648.70, its highest since early December 2020. The benchmark index earlier hit an intraday high of 1,653.35. Today’s move is the biggest since rising 2.47% on Aug 6.
Gainers thumped losers at 606 to 546 while 463 counters were unchanged. Turnover stood at 3.9 billion securities worth RM4.3bil.
Dealers noted increasing optimism after the strong 2Q GDP report, indicating that growth could remain robust in the second half of 2024 and possibly reach the upper end of Bank Negara’s 4%-5% forecast.
They also noted that the positive global equity markets are expected to boost Malaysian stocks, helping them maintain their near-term gains.
In today’s session, 15 of the KLCI-component stocks finished higher while 12 ended lower.
Public Bank contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 5.83%. The bank rose 25 sen to RM4.54 with 130.69 million shares traded. It contributed 7.1350 points to the index.
On the other hand, CelcomDigi was the biggest drag on the index and had the biggest drop, declining 4.26%, or 16 sen to RM3.60. It dragged the index lower by 2.7598 points.
Gainers on Bursa Malaysia include Hong Leong Financial Group, up 60 sen to RM17.84; Hong Leong Bank, rising 54 sen to RM20.10; Maybank, increasing 34 sen to RM10.60; and CIMB, advancing 31 sen to RM7.97.
Among the losers, Dutch Lady
tumbled 72 sen to RM31.12, Nestle fell 50 sen to RM105.10, Heineken slid 20 sen to RM23.08 and Malaysian Airports declined 18 sen to RM10.04.
On the forex market, Asian currencies advanced as the dollar weakened, with the ringgit leading gains. The local currency rose 1.21% against the US dollar to 4.3785.
It also gained 0.76% against the pound sterling to 5.6765 and increased 0.57% to 3.3413 against the Singapore dollar.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was stronger by 0.81%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended down 1.77% at 37,388.62, while South Korea’s Kospi finished 0.85% lower at 2,674.36.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed up 0.8% at 17,569.57 while China’s blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.34% at 3,356.97.
