Kuala Lumpur, Mar 30 –Bursa Malaysia closed marginally lower today amidst mild profit-taking activity going on with insipid market sentiment. Most of the Asian equities markets rallied on Wednesday as hopes rose for a negotiated end to the Ukraine conflict, with MSCI Asia ex Japan rose 1.37%, and touched its highest level since 4 March. Nikkei 225 however, bucked the trend, dropped 0.80%, as investors were profit-taking when the benchmark index hit the peak (of 2-month) on Tuesday. Ukraine’s proposal of adopting a neutral status in a sign of progress at face-to-face negotiations may dispel some air of gloom. It is noteworthy that the bond markets signaled concern overnight that aggressive rate hikes could damage the U.S. economy after 10-year yields briefly dipped below two-year rates.
** The FTSE BM KLCI shed 0.20 points or -0.01% at 1,583.22 .
** The FTSE BM KLCI opened at 1,585.55 . The index fluctuated between 1,580.88 – 1,591.40.
** 521 counters are gainers, 419 counters are unchanged, while 430 counters are losers.
** Total volume of 3,400,655,280 shares changed hands; while Turnover of RM 2,160,422,088 .
** The Top 5 Gainers : AIRPORT (6.95, +0.50) ; AEONCR (14.82, +0.38); VITROX (8.05, +0.24) ; BKAWAN (26.36, +0.24) ; GREATEC (4.82, +0.23)
** The Top 5 Losers : IHS046000824 (101.50, -1.00) ; NESTLE (134.50, -0.50) ; HEIM (22.04, -0.46) ; PETGAS (16.54, -0.28) ; PETDAG (20.50, -0.20)
** The Top 5 Most Active Stocks : MTRONIC (0.015, UNCHANGED) ; CAPITALA (0.75, +0.07) ; PHB (0.005, UNCHANGED) ; BSLCORP (0.19, +0.02) ; MYEG (1.02, +0.04)
** Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) crept up 4.14 points or 0.12% to 3,438.04 ; Hong Kong’s HSI Index climbed 304.40 points or +1.39% at 22,232.03; Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 225.17 points or -0.80% at 28,027.25; and Korea’s KOSPI rose 5.67 points or +0.21% to 2,746.74; Shanghai’s SSE Index up 62.66 points or 1.96% at 3,266.60; Australia’s All Ordinaries climbed 52.90 points or 0.68% to 7,799.90
