Kuala Lumpur, Mar 31 –Bursa Malaysia bucked the movement of major regional markets, by staging dramatic last hour trend, ended slightly higher on Thursday. However, trading volume remained thin with cautious and insipid sentiment. All major Asian equities markets with ASX included, slumped after news of weakened Chinese manufacturing and Russian shelling around Ukraine’s capital dashed hopes of progress in peace. Price of oil dropped sharply, brent crude futures were down 4.4% at $108.50 a barrel after the news of United States is contemplating a massive draw from its strategic reserves to suppress surging fuel prices. The White House is reported to try reigning in fuel prices by releasing up to 180 million barrels of oil over several months.
** The FTSE BM KLCI up 4.14 points or +0.26% % at 1,587.36.
** The FTSE BM KLCI opened at 1,585.17 . The index fluctuated between 1,575.54 – 1,589.06.
** 530 counters are gainers, 445 counters are unchanged, while 370 counters are losers.
** Total volume of 2,860,229,900 shares changed hands; while Turnover of RM2,362,521,764.
** The Top 5 Gainers : PMBTECH-WA (15.30, +1.10) ; PMBTECH (18.34, +0.94) ; HEIM (22.48, +0.44) ; AEONCR (15.12, +0.30) ; YINSON (4.80, +0.25)
** The Top 5 Losers : NESTLE (133.60, -0.90) ; GENP (8.55, -0.19) ; HSI-HEB (1.52, -0.14) ; HSI-CJC (1.19, -0.11) ; MANULFE (2.30, -0.10)
** The Top 5 Most Active Stocks : MTRONIC (0.02, +0.005) ; DYNACIA-PA (0.06, UNCHAGED) ; TWL (0.07, +0.005) ; CAPITALA (0.735, -0.015) ; SMTRACK (0.08, +0.005)
** Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) dropped X points or % to 3,273.27 ; Hong Kong’s HSI Index shed 235.18 points or -1.06% at 21,996.85; Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 205.82 points or -0.73% at 27,821.43; and Korea’s KOSPI up 10.91 points or +0.40% to 2,757.65; Shanghai’s SSE Index down 14.39 points or -0.44% at 3,252.20; Australia’s All Ordinaries shed 10.30 points or -0.13% to 7,789.60
