Kuala Lumpur, May 20 – FBM KLCI closed marginally lower at the closing, dragged by profit-taking of the heavyweights. Bursa Malaysia is the only laggard in performance via-a-vis the other equities markets in the Asia region. Asian stocks markets all closed higher. Hong Kong’s HSI leapt almost 3%, the best performer of today. Investors’ sentiment got a uplift after the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) slashed the five-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) by 15 basis points (bps). Now, the five-year LPR stands at 4.45% vs. 4.60% recorded last month. While the one-year LPR has kept unchanged at 3.75%. This move is seen as help to reduce mortgage costs and may boost loan demand amid a property slump and COVID curb measures.
** The FTSE BM KLCI shed 0.29 points or -0.02% at 1,549.12 .
** The FTSE BM KLCI opened at 1,552.38 . The index fluctuated between 1,551.15 – 1,558.51.
** 593 counters are gainers, 417 counters are unchanged, while 318 counters are losers.
** Total volume of 2,393,773,300 recorded; while Turnover of RM1,985,429,908.
** The Top 5 Gainers :HLFG (19.50, +0.40) ; PMBTECH-LA (16.56, +0.36) ; KOBAY (3.51, +0.31) ; PMBTECH-WA (2.81, +0.26) ; SAM (4.40, +0.25)
** The Top 5 Losers : NESTLE (133.60, -0.80) ; PETGAS (16.80, -0.56) ; HEIM (24.48, -0.36) ; KHIND (2.95, -0.35) ; HSI-HEB (1.84, -0.32)
** The Top 5 Most Active Stocks : SERBADK (0.135, -0.01) ; KNM (0.20, +0.025) ; TECHNAX (0.055, UNCHANGED) ; SAPNRG (0.07, +0.005) ; HSI-HA7 (0.265, -0.11)
** Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) rose 52.76 points or +1.65% to 3,243.47 ; Hong Kong’s HSI jumped 596.56 points or +2.96% at 20,717.24; Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 336.19 points or +1.27% at 26,739.03 ; and Korea’s KOSPI up 46.95 points or +1.81% to 2,639.29 ; Shanghai’s SSE Index rose 49.60 points or 1.60% at 3,146.57; Australia’s All Ordinaries up 87.80 points or 1.20% to 7,391.00
