Kuala Lumpur, Oct 18 – Bursa Malaysia ended in mild bullish note today with the bell-weathered index FBM KLCI climbed 14.09 points or +1.02% at 1,400.36. The northward movement of the KLCI was in tandem with the performance of regional peers as well as Wall Street overnight.
Asian bourses nudged higher after a slew of strong corporate earnings spurred an overnight recovery on Wall Street, as well as the dramatic U-turn in British fiscal policy while the Sterling Pound hit two-weeks high on hopes the Bank of England may further delay plans for quantitative tightening, although mixed economic signals and concerns over a U.S. semiconductor blockade hurt Chinese stocks.
Whilst most bourses gained more than 1%, Shanghai’s SSE Composite Index ended almost flat today, as sentiment was plagued by the concern on zero-Covid policy. The mainland Chinese government has unveiled stimulus and the central bank of China also kept monetary policy at accommodative levels in order to spur economic growth.
The U.S. moving to block Chinese firms from importing chips made using American technology – has the potential to severely hamper Beijing’s chipmaking ambitions, harm the relationship between the nations – a move that has made investors become jittery.
Hong Kong’s HSI index soared 1.82% as the index was buoyed by tech stocks eg BiliBili, Kuaishuo, BYD, renewable energy stocks and biotech stocks.
** The FTSE BM KLCI opened at 1,392.92. The index fluctuated between 1,389.16 – 1,400.39.
** 566 counters are gainers, 368 counters are unchanged, while 272 counters are decliners.
** Total volume of 2,404,950,800 shares changed hands; while Turnover of RM 1,711,438,983
** The Top 5 Gainers: MPI (26.66, +1.26); UTDPLT (14.50, +0.62); CCARLSBG (22.46, +0.58); HEXTECH (6.29, +0.54); KLK (20.70, +0.50)
** The Top 5 Losers: SP500-H13 (2.79, -0.46); SP500-H19 (1.26, -0.19); HARISON (5.68, -0.19); SP500-H15 (0.66, -0.185); HSI-HE3 (2.35, -0.18)
** The Top 5 Active : TOPGLOV (0.74, UNCHANGED); CAREPLS (0.425, +0.01); HONGSENG (0.27, +0.05); HSI-CJW (0.08, +0.015); PCCS-WA (0.01, -0.015)
* Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) up 9.82 points or +0.33% to 3,025.57; Hong Kong’s HSI surged 301.68 points or +1.82% at 16,914.58; Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index soared 380.35 points or +1.42% at 27,156.14; Shanghai’s SSE Composite Index shaved 3.98 points or -0.13% at 3,080.96; Korea’s Kospi Index climbed 30.24 points or +1.36% at 2,249.95; Australia S&P/ASX 200 Index jumped 114.80 points or +1.72% at 6,779.20.
