Malaysian Stock Market Ends At The Day's High On Window Dressing Activities

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) ended firmer, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finishing at the day's high of 1,683.82, up 13.54 points or 0.81 per cent, from last Friday's close of 1,670.28. This is in line with fund managers’ year-end window dressing, despite rising concerns over uncertainty at the global level, which include potential interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, as well as probability of the US government shutdown extending into next year from last Friday. Regionally, stock markets were mixed, with Singapore's Strait Times added 0.16 per cent to 3,051.06, but Japan's Nikkei declined 1.11 per cent to 6,667.76, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng eased 0.76 per cent to 25,558.94 and South Korea's Kospi was 0.31 per cent lower at 2,055.01. After opening 0.29 point lower at 1,669.99, the FBM KLCI moved between 1,658.10 and 1,683.82 throughout the session. Among the top gainers were Aji, gaining RM1.08 to RM19.0, BAT improving 60 sen to RM35.90 and F&N edging up 44 sen toRM31.78, while heavyweight counters, Tenaga adding 52 sen to RM14.0 and PetDag advancing 50 sen to RM26.50. As for other heavyweights, Maybank fell three sen to RM9.26, PBBank gained 10 sen to RM24.78, PChem and CIMB both increased three sen each to RM9.23 and RM5.68, respectively. Of actives, SapNRG gained 1.5 sen to 31.5 sen, Hubline was flat at four sen, MyEG rose five sen to 87.5 sen, while Velesto and VS were both half-a-sen higher at 18 sen and 70.5 sen, respectively. Market breadth on Bursa Malaysia was positive with 380 gainers and 302 losers, while 426 counters remained unchanged, 780 untraded and 25 others suspended. Total volume decreased to 1.27 billion units worth RM875.79 million from 1.75 billion units worth RM1.88 billion last Friday. -- BERNAMA