Kuala Lumpur, Aug 12 – Bursa Malaysia closed marginally higher on Friday with the barometer index, FBM KLCI up 0.63 points or +0.04% to 1,506.19. The newly released 2Q GDP figure, printed at 8.9% which beats the consensus estimates – this has propelled the KLCI moved up today but the gain narrowed towards the closing hour. Meanwhile, most Asian stock markets closed in positive note, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as market participants were hopeful after another US Labor Department report showing an unexpected decrease in producer prices in the month of July. Thus raising hopes that inflation may have peaked, which means a higher possibility of the Fed to slow the pace of interest rate increases. The best performer of the region: Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose sharpy higher today by 2.62% (after yesterday’s holiday), the index was buoyed by SoftBank Group, Uniqlo, Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Canon, Panasonic.
** The FTSE BM KLCI opened at 1,505.07. The index fluctuated between 1,504.21– 1,511.80.
** 440 counters are gainers, 442 counters are unchanged, while 367 counters are losers.
** Total volume of 2,083,931,500 shares changed hands; while Turnover of RM 1,628,002,690
** The Top 5 Gainers: PANAMY (26.48, +0.38) ; IMA SPRO (4.50, +0.29) ; RAPID (13.20, +0.22) ; CHINHIN (5.23, +0.22) ; YNHPROP (3.70, +0.19)
** The Top 5 Losers: BKAWAN (23.30, -0.50) ; KESM (7.30, -0.30) ; HARTA (2,00, -0.28) ; HSI-HEV (0.945, -0.165) ; MPI (32.04, -0.16)
** The Top 5 Most Active Stocks: TOPGLOV (0.855, -0.07) ; MTRONIC (0.05, UNCANGED) ; HARTA (2.00, -0.28); AVI (0.12, +0.02) ; DNEX-CU (0.03, UNCHANGED)
* Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) down 34.46 points or -1.04% to 3,267.50; Hong Kong’s HSI up 66.39 points or +0.33 % at 20,148.82; Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index jumped 727.65 point or +2.62% at 28,546.98 : Korea’s Kospi Index rose 4.16 points or +0.16% at 2,527.94 ; Shanghai’s SSE Index dropped 4.78 points or -0.15% at 3,276.89; Australia’s ASX 200 ceded 38.50 points or -0.54% at 7,032.50.
