KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 27): The FBM KLCI closed a marginal 0.21% higher on Wednesday after recovering from heavy selling in selected blue chips.
At 5pm, the benchmark index finished 3.31 points higher at 1,587.18, after earlier inching to an intraday high of 1,590.51.
Market breadth was negative with 548 losers to 318 gainers, while 376 counters closed unchanged.
Total turnover stood at 2.51 billion shares worth RM1.66 billion. Solarvest, which made its debut on Bursa Malaysia's ACE Market yesterday at an issue price of 35 sen a share, was again the most actively traded stock today. It added another 6.5 sen today to close at 82 sen.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Victor Wan told theedgemarkets.com that the key index had largely rebounded after losses in the past few trading days. "It appears that the index will be trading range-bound going forward on the lack of catalysts at this point," he said.
Asian stocks were higher on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said negotiators were close to inking an initial trade deal with China. Expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep rates low also underpinned sentiment, Reuters reported.
Trump said on Tuesday the United States and China are close to agreement on the first phase of a trade deal after top negotiators from the two countries spoke by telephone and agreed to keep working on remaining issues.
The positive mood pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 55.21 points to close at 28,121.68 overnight, even though US economic data for October showed four straight months of contraction in consumer confidence and an unexpected drop in new home sales.
But while Trump said Washington was in the "final throes" of work on a trade deal with Beijing, he also underscored US support for protesters in Hong Kong — a sore point for Beijing, Reuters added.
In China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index was down 0.13%, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.15% at the end of the trading day.
Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei 225 eked out a 0.28% gain, while South Korea's Kospi did slightly better, closing 0.31% higher.