KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed higher on Monday, recovering from early losses even as broader market sentiment remained weak, with more than 770 counters ending in the red.
The FBM KLCI closed higher on Monday, recovering from early losses to gain 3.91 points, or 0.24%, to 1,619.51, after trading between 1,607.15 and 1,623.33 during the session.
Market breadth was negative, with 774 losers outpacing 324 gainers, while 501 counters were unchanged. Total trading volume stood at 2.654 billion shares, valued at RM2.101bil.
Mega Fortris led the gainers, surging 66 sen to RM2.88, followed by Fraser & Neave, which rose 32 sen to RM20.28, PETRONAS Dagangan, up 28 sen to RM19.78, MISC, which gained 27 sen to RM8.52, and Westports, up 25 sen to RM7.10.
On the losing end, technology stocks featured prominently, with ViTrox falling 42 sen to RM10.48 and Mi Technovation shedding 23 sen to RM6.30. Carlsberg also slipped 22 sen to RM12.58.
Pentamaster and Solarvest declined 20 sen each to RM5.47 and RM4.11, respectively.
Among the actives, Zetrix slipped half a sen to six sen, with 166.48 million shares traded, while Ni Hsin
gained eight sen to 34 sen on volume of 64.89 million shares.
GIB rose 14 sen to 50 sen, with 64.51 million shares changing hands, while Top Glove shed 1.5 sen to 96 sen on volume of 53.73 million shares.
On the forex market, the ringgit eased 0.33% to 4.0712 against the US dollar and edged down 0.31% to 3.1870 against the Singapore dollar.
On the external front, regional markets ended mostly higher, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipping 0.33%, while South Korea’s Kospi gained 2.24%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.42%, while China’s CSI300 and Shanghai Composite advanced 0.79% and 1.08%, respectively.
Reuters reported that Singapore stocks fell with the Straits Times Index sliding as much as 2% to its lowest level since early July, dragged down by banking stocks.
