KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished higher on Wednesday in the absence of market-moving factors while the ringgit weakened to 24-year low against the US dollar.
The Malaysian ringgit fell 0.1% to 4.5028, its lowest level since 1998. The local unit opened lower against the US dollar this morning.
The local unit rose 0.61% to 5.1754 against the pound sterling, strengthened 0.34% to the Euro at 4.4611, and gained 0.12% to the Singapore dollar at 3.1987.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 3.08 points, or 0.21% to 1,491.35 after moving between 1,492.19 and 1,483.29 throughout the day.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 477 to 348 while 428 counters were unchanged. About 2.36 billion shares, valued at RM1.62bil, changed hands.
According to data from Bursa Malaysia, foreign investors and retailers were net sellers at RM42mil and RM16mil respectively. Local institutions were net buyers at RM58mil on Wednesday.
Among the gainers on Bursa Malaysia, PMB Technology-LA rose RM3.12 to RM19.62, PETRONAS Dagangan added 62 sen to RM21.52, PETRONAS Chemicals gained 26 sen to RM9 and F&N climbed 22 sen to RM22.
Malaysian Pacific Industries
shed 34 sen to RM29.16, Hengyuan eased 27 sen to RM4.59, Petron Malaysia fell 16 sen to RM4.78 and Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia lost 13 sen to RM4.66.
On the external front, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was lower by 1.22%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.71% to 27,430.30 while South Korea’s Kospi index closed down 1.39%, at 2,376.46.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.83% to 19,044.30.
China’s CSI 300 index added 0.067% to 4,054.98 and the Shanghai Composite index both ended up 0.088% to 3,246.29.