The FBM KLCI Index at closing recovered from early losses, but rising just 0.33 points, or 0.02%, to settle at 1,635.62, largely unchanged from yesterday’s closing of 1,635.29.
Throughout the trading day, the benchmark index moved between the high of 1,638.87 and the low of 1,629.22.
The slight gain of the benchmark index was largely supported by the rally of Tenaga Nasional and YTL Power International.
Tenaga Nasional, which is among the top gainers for the day, climbed up 20 sen, or 1.41%, to settle at RM14.18. YTL Power, on the other hand, added 10 sen, or 2.72%, to close at RM3.67.
Notably, the exchange’s Construction Index rose by 3.86 points, or 1.4%, to close at 279.60. Also, the Property Index gained 12.26 points, or 1.15%, to settle at 1,082.43.
The FBM Ringgit- and US dollar-denominated Asian Palm Oil indices trimmed 0.54% and 0.73% to close at 16,949.82 and 11,376.31, respectively.
The trading volume for the day was recorded at 3.2 billion1 shares, valued at RM2.67 billion2.
In today’s trading session, gainers outnumbered decliners by 567 to 486, as 508 counters were unchanged and 862 counters were not traded.
In the foreign exchange market, the US dollar to ringgit exchange rate stood at RM4.289 as at closing at 5pm.
Moving to East Asia, China’s stock markets reopened from the week-long national holidays and climbed to their highest levels in more than two years at the open.
But the rally couldn’t hold its momentum after officials’ announcement during the day failed to build up market confidence, causing disappointment and a sell-off that sent Hong Kong market down 9.4%. This marked the largest daily loss of Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index since 2008.
The underperformance of the Hong Kong market may be due to some investors reallocating their funds from Hong Kong to Mainland, where government stimulus is more direct, according to a report by Reuters.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange Index closed 4.6% higher while the blue-chip CSI300 rose 5.9%, but still below the more than 10% early gains on a volatile day where turnover hit a record 3.45 trillion yuan (US$489 billion), indicative of aggressive profit taking and fund inflows.
By midday, 20-some exchange-traded funds rose 20% above the value of their assets, as funds rushed in faster than they could be rerouted to buy shares.
