Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): The FBM KLCI was up 0.83% at mid-morning today but struggled to breach the 1,800-point level as regional markets stayed weaker in fragile sentiment.

At 10.05am, the FBM KLCI was up 14.98 points to 1,790.64.

Gainers led losers by 328 to 227, while 281 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 600.09 million shares valued at RM411.36 million.

The top gainers included United Plantations Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Time Dotcom Bhd, Apex Healthcare Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd,KESM Industries Bhd and Genting Bhd.

The actives included NetX Holdings Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, YTL Power International Bhd, My E.G. Services Bhd and Silver Ridge Bhd.

The decliners included Nestle (M) Bhd, Amway (M) Holdings Bdh, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Lii Hen Industries Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, MISC Bhd, Heveaboard Bhd, Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd and Sapura Resources Bhd.

Asian shares were slightly weaker on Friday amid fragile market sentiment after U.S. President Donald Trump called off a key summit with North Korea, though investor concerns were softened by expectations the two countries may still continue dialogue, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked down. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.65 percent. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.3 percent, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief said that on the back of renewed concerns over geopolitical events after the cancellation of North Korean summit and uncertainties in US-China trade negotiation coupled with the possible new tariffs into car imports, Dow’s near term outlook has turned cautious.

“Neverthelss, any downside will be cusioned by less-hawkish Fed minutes, reassuring investors that the central bank will not be too aggressive with raising interest rates.

“Given the persistent external threats from trade wars and the US Dollar strength coupled renewed geopolitical tensions, Bursa Malaysia’s near term outlook remains challenging as traders may still be focusing on the ballooning national debts and anticipate the next action plan by Pakatan Harapan to resolve the debt status.

“Moreover, recent heightened concern over the 1MDB newsflows and the review of construction mega projects and toll concessions may dampen the overall trading sentiment,” it said.

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