Kuala Lumpur, Aug 8 – Bursa Malaysia closed in negative territory on Monday as the bell-weathered index FBM KLCI shed 5.52 points or -0.37% to 1,496.03. The KLCI was dragged by selling activities on the selected heavyweights. Meanwhile over to the Asian stock markets, overall the markets closed in mixed. The newly released data by US Labor Department which delivered better than expected employment data in July, This however has led to market participants’ expectation on the likelihood of raising interest rates. The Japanese stock market performed relatively better as compared to peers as the Nikkei 225 Index has risen above the 28,000-point-level. On the Japanese economic news, overall bank lending in Japan was up 1.8 percent on year in July, coming in at 588.232 trillion Yen. That follows the downwardly revised 1.2 percent increase in June (originally 1.3 percent). While Hong Kong’s HSI was adversely affected by the geopolitical tension of Straits of Taiwan and also anticipation of rate hikes. Australia’s ASX 200 closed above 7,000 point-level, buoyed by mining stocks.
** The FTSE BM KLCI opened at 1,501.58. The index fluctuated between 1,490.41 – 1,501.58.
** 323 counters are gainers, 410 counters are unchanged, while 464 counters are losers.
** Total volume of 2,192,564,300 shares changed hands; while Turnover of RM 1,327,009,720
** The Top 5 Gainers: NESTLE (136.80, +1.60) ; BKAWAN (23.50, +0.30) ; DKSH (4.33, +0.18) ; THETA (0.94, +0.175) ; RVIEW (3.49, +0.16)
** The Top 5 Losers: MPI (32.40, -0.48) ; PMBTECH-WA (2.50, -0.21) ; KESM (7.32, -0.21) ; SAM (4.23, -0.21) ; BAT (10.22, -0.20)
** The Top 5 Most Active Stocks: MTRONIC (0.065, -0.01) ; ZENTECH (0.025, -0.01) ; SAPNRG (0.045, UNCHANGED); MYEG (0.785, -0.025) ; DNEX (0.89, +0.015)
* Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) down 12.60 points or -0.38% to 3,270.28 ; Hong Kong’s HSI ceded 156.17 points or -0.77% at 20,045.77 ; Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 73.37 points or +0.26% at 28,249.24; Korea’s Kospi Index up 2.30 points or +0.09% at 2,493.10; Shanghai’s SSE Index rose 9.91 points or +0.31% at 3,236.93; Australia’s ASX 200 rose 5 points or +0.07% at 7020.60.
