KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rose for the third straight session as investors found comfort in the possibility of a delay in US President Donald Trump's promised tariff hikes, providing some temporary relief to the markets.
Reuters reported that Trump, after threatening a 60% tariff on Chinese goods, held off on immediate action Monday, opting to review trade ties first.
The FBM KLCI closed up 8.12 points, or 0.52% at 1,580.46. The market traded within range of 11.35 points between its intraday high of 1,582.32 and low of 1,570.97.
All indices on Bursa Malaysia ended higher, except for the Bursa Malaysia Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Index.
The market saw a significantly higher number of gainers than decliners, with 665 stocks rising compared to 372 falling. About 3.4 billion shares, valued at RM2.61bil, changed hands.
Among the gainers on Bursa Malaysia, Dutch Lady
jumped 50 sen to RM31.50, Panasonic Manufacturing added 38 sen to RM17.60, Sunway gained 23 sen to RM4.46 and United Plantations climbed 20 sen to RM30.60.
Conversely, F&N tumbled 78 sen to RM25.62, PETRONAS Gas slid 28 sen to RM17.06, Malaysian Pacific Industries declined 26 sen to RM23.60 and Allianz lost 24 sen to RM19.48.
Harvest Miracle Capital, the most active counter on Bursa Malaysia climbed 0.5 sen to 17 sen with 149.75 million shares traded.
On the forex market, the ringgit strengthened by 0.4% against the greenback to 4.4757 but weakened by 0.01% against the Singapore dollar to 3.2910.
Asian bourses closed broadly higher today, with Japan's Nikkei 225 rising 0.32%, South Korea’s Kospi edging down 0.08%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advancing 0.91%, and China’s CSI 300 Index gaining 0.08%.
