KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 1): The FBM KLCI closed marginally lower today, as renewed worries about the U.S. presidential election outweighed the unexpected pickup in manufacturing in China.
At closing bell, the key index fell 1.53 points or 0.09% to settle at 1,670.93 points. It closed at 1,672.46 points yesterday. The overall market sentiment also bearish.
"The market today is mainly affected by the external factors," JF Apex Securities Bhd head of research Lee Chung Cheng told theedgemarkets.com over the phone today, such as the uncertainty over the US presidential election.
He said the market is likely to be traded sideways in the near term as there is no sight of catalyst to boost the market.
"Although we are entering the result reporting season, I expect corporate earnings to remain lacklustre," he added.
Across the board, some 1.31 billion shares, worth RM1.67 billion, were traded. Decliners continued to lead gainers at 432 versus 332, while 363 counters were unchanged.
The gainers were led by Malaysia Packaging Industry Bhd, whose shares hit limit up after Japan-based Taisei Lamick Co Ltd raised its take-over offer price for Maypak to RM1, from 65 sen a share.
The decliners were led British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd, while the most actively-traded stock was AirAsia X Bhd.
On the regional front, the sentiments were mixed with South Korea's Kospi Index falling 0.04%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 1.08%, followed by Shanghai Composite Index's gaining 0.71%, and Japan's Nikkei 225's advancing 0.1%.
The international traded Brent Crude Oil index was up 1.07% to quote at US$49.13 per barrel.
Reuters reported stronger-than-expected factory growth in China helped Asian stocks erase early losses on Tuesday, but investors remained cautious, as the acrimonious U.S. presidential election campaign entered its final week.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3%, after earlier hitting its lowest level since Sept 19. October marked the first monthly loss for the index since May, the report added.