KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia recovered after two days of poor performance to close mixed following the positive gains on Wall Street, dealers said.
At close, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 0.13 of a point lower 1,794.52 from yesterday’s 1,794.65.
The benchmark index hovered between 1,791.31 and 1,795.75 throughout the day, after opening at 1,792.38 this morning.
However, gainers led losers 415 to 323, with 336 counters unchanged, 526 untraded and 25 others were suspended.
Key indices on Wall Street were up between 0.7 per cent and 1.2 per cent, driven primarily by better job market report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 16,000 for the first time to reach a new record high.
“We can see that most Asian equity markets including Bursa were recovering,” Affin Investment Bank Vice President and Head of Retail Research Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan told Bernama.
Investors heaved a sigh of relief after the release of slower inflation and a sharper-than-expected fall in US initial jobless claims.
Local small cap stocks continued to show upside trend, a sign that the Chinese New Year play is ongoing and this should prop risk-taking sentiment in December-January.
“Financial stocks, which remain one of the market’s most undervalued sectors, are still playing catch-up with the rest of the market,” he said.
The Finance Index rose 38.25 points to 16,444.24 but the Plantation Index declined 9.119 points to 8,807.23 and the Industrial Index inched up 1.97 points at 3,127.99.
The FBM Emas Index rose 5.13 points to 12,494.75, the FBMT100 Index added 1.26 points to 12,220.27, the FBM Ace increased 21.83 points to 5,636.21 and the FBM 70 went up 10.359 points to 14,257.35.
Total turnover fell to 1.5 billion shares worth RM1.69 billion from 2.32 billion shares valued at RM2.11 billion yesterday. — Bernama
