Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (March 7): The FBM KLCI closed up 0.13 point today at 1,686.95 after paring gains as investors took cue from losses across Asian stock markets amid global economic growth concerns.

The KLCI pared gains at 5pm after rising to its intraday high at 1,690.23.

Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 0.65%, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.45% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.89%. Reuters reported that Asian shares eased on Thursday, as investors showed caution over the outlook for global growth as they awaited the outcome of Sino-US trade negotiations, while the euro remained under pressure ahead of the European Central Bank meeting.

In Malaysia, Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd head of retail research Loui Low told theedgemarkets.com that dampened market sentiment does not bode well for heavyweight stocks.  

Against such a backdrop, he observed that smaller market capitalisation stocks (small cap) perform better compared to big cap equities. Bursa Malaysia's FBM70 index closed up 58.15 points or 0.41% today at 14,208.29 while the small cap index rose 2.48 points or 0.02% to 12,887.46.
 
“Construction-related counters are also up possibly due to (potential) revival of the ECRL (East Coast Rail Link project). Expect small cap counters to be still in focus this week,” said Low.

Overall, Bursa Malaysia saw today 3.06 billion shares worth RM2.41 billion traded.

Prestariang Bhd was the most-active stock with some 222 million units traded. Prestariang closed up 10 sen at 54 sen.

Top gainers included cement manufacturer Lafarge Malaysia Bhd. The stock closed 35 sen higher at RM2.35 after rising 60 sen or 30% to its intraday high at RM2.60.

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