KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 17): The FBMKLCI finished 1.19% or 18.21 points lower today at 1,513.07 points, in line with declines seen among other regional indices following the release of the US Federal Reserve’s policy statement.

Rakuten Trade Research Vice President Vincent Lau explained that the drop in the local benchmark index was mainly a reaction to Fed denting hopes of further economic stimulus.

“There was also some profit taking being done today as well,” he noted.

Leading the decliners on FBMKLCI were Top Glove Corp Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd and Public Bank Bhd.

Top Glove finished the trading day 7.59% or 64 sen lower at RM7.79, despite announcing that it had posted a record net profit of RM1.29 billion for its fourth quarter ended Aug 31,2020 (4QFY20), up almost 18 times from RM74.17 million during the corresponding quarter last year.

Across Bursa Malaysia today, trading volume stood at 7.53 billion shares worth RM6.2 billion. Top actives included Ekovest Bhd, GPA Holdings Bhd and Top Glove.

Top gainers included Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N), Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd and Vitrox Corp Bhd, while top losers were glove makers Supermax Corp Bhd, Top Glove and Careplus Group Bhd.

Key regional indices were down. In China, the Shanghai Composite finished 0.41% or 13.49 points lower at 3,270.44 points. Further south in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng closed lower by 1.56% or 348.78 points at 24,340.85 points

In South Korea, the Kospi finished 1.22% or 29.76 points lower at 2,406.17 points. The Nikkei 225 in Japan finished 0.67% or 156.16 points lower at 23,319.37 points.

Reuters had reported that global equities recoiled after the US Federal Reserve had dented hopes of further economic stimulus.

“The Fed extended its ‘dot plot’ forecast of unchanged US interest rates out to end-2023, but going no further than that, and upgrading growth forecasts so that GDP is now seen reaching pre-pandemic levels next year rather than in 2022.

The Fed said it would keep interest rates near zero until inflation is on track to “moderately exceed” the central bank’s 2% inflation target “for some time.”

New economic projections released with the policy statement showed most policymakers see interest rates on hold through to at least 2023, with inflation not breaching 2% over that period,” Reuters had reported.