KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended little changed on Monday as a lack of fresh catalysts kept the benchmark index range-bound, with investors turning their attention to corporate earnings.
The Statistics Department earlier announced that Malaysia’s consumer price index rose 1.8% in July from a year earlier, slightly below market forecasts.
A dealer said trading was likely to remain range-bound in the near term as investors awaited fresh catalysts, with attention shifting to the ongoing corporate earnings season for clearer direction.
“While firmer regional markets provided some support, investors remained cautious and selective, focusing on companies with resilient earnings and positive outlooks,” the dealer said.
The benchmark index closed down 1.5 points, or 0.09%, at 1,725.89 after moving between an intraday high of 1,731.45 and a low of 1,722.16.
The broader market was mixed, although decliners outpaced advancers, with 625 stocks ending lower against 559 that closed higher. Market breadth stood at 0.89, indicating a slight negative bias.
About 3.45 billion shares, valued at RM2.75bil, changed hands.
Among the gainers, Carlsberg rose 44 sen to RM14.90, UMS Integration gained 42 sen to RM8.88, Nestlé added 30 sen to RM103 and Hong Leong Bank climbed 24 sen to RM22.74.
In contrast, Malaysian Pacific Industries
fell 50 sen to RM47, Kuala Lumpur Kepong shed 24 sen to RM21.56, PETRONAS Gas lost 20 sen to RM17.22 and Kelington declined 16 sen to RM8.54.
On the forex front, the ringgit strengthened 0.74% against the US dollar to 4.0562. It edged up 0.44% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1805.
On the external front, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was higher by 0.7%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.74% to 69,220.25 while South Korea’s Kospi closed up 2.42% at 6,977.94.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 1.34% higher at 25,453.23.
China’s CSI300 index rose 1.61% to 4,741.10 while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.41% to 3,982.65.
