KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI bucked the uptrend seen in most regional stock markets, ending in negative territory as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East dampened investor sentiment.
The 30-stock index closed down 11.58 points, or 0.71% at 1,629.97. The market traded within a range of 13.94 points between an intra-day high of 1,639.29 and a low of 1,625.35 during the session. For the week, the index fell 1.14%.
Bursa Malaysia Energy Index jumped 34.87 points, or 4.07% to 892.68 points.
Market breadth was negative with 610 securities ending in the red versus 410 that closed higher. Trading volume was brisk at 3.1 billion shares valued at RM2.67bil.
Among the losers, Nestle fell 40 sen to RM105, Pertama Digital lost 33.5 sen to 78.5 sen, Malaysian Pacific Industries
slid 28 sen to RM26.30 and PPB Group gave up 24 sen to RM14.40.
Hengyuan Refining jumped 55 sen to RM2.90, HeiTech Padu rose 45 sen to RM4.10, Ayer added 35 sen to RM7.35 and Dayang gained 22 sen to RM2.45.
On the forex market, the ringgit was down 0.01% against the greenback at 4.2213.
The local currency has depreciated by 0.24% against the pound sterling, now at 5.5512, and up 0.02% against the Singapore dollar at 3.2542.
Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 72 cents to US$74.43 and Brent added 75 cents to US$78.37 per barrel.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.22%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed up 2.82%, South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.82% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.18%.
