KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia pared its earlier gains to close marginally higher on Wednesday, bucking the weaker trend across most regional markets.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI closed up 4.37 points, or 0.27%, at 1,627.72 after hitting an intraday high of 1,637.10.
The broader market was mixed, with 541 gainers against 532 losers, while 566 counters were unchanged. Trading volume stood at 3.25 billion shares worth RM3.03bil.
Dealers said investors remained cautious ahead of the release of the US consumer price index for September on Wednesday, which could provide further clues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate outlook.
Among the top gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries
rose 84 sen to RM42, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 46 sen to RM21.30, MISC added 45 sen to RM8.37, Carlsberg climbed 26 sen to RM12.02, while Buscap advanced 22.5 sen to RM1.22.
ACE Market debutant Ecosys surged 196.3%, or 53 sen, to close at 80 sen, making it Bursa Malaysia's second most actively traded counter with 183.56 million shares changing hands.
Renewable energy counters were among the top losers on Bursa Malaysia, with Samaiden falling 28 sen to RM2.79, Pekat shedding 23 sen to RM2.68 and Solarvest declining 23 sen to RM3.87.
On the forex market, the ringgit strengthened 0.08% against the US dollar to 4.0825 and gained 0.22% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1849.
Meanwhile, Brent crude edged up three cents, or 0.03%, to US$105.72 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 23 cents, or 0.24%, to US$94.37 a barrel.
On the external front, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index edged up 0.1%, although most regional bourses closed lower.
Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.05% to 67,744.29, while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.44% to 6,008.81.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng eased 0.13% to 24,314.17 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.37% to 5,410.67.
China's CSI300 declined 1.36% to 4,217.68 and the Shanghai Composite shed 0.88% to 3,767.23.
