Malaysian Stock Market Ends Slightly Higher

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) closed slightly higher on Thursday with gains in selected heavyweights and blue-chips, led by Sime Darby and Genting Bhd. At the closing bell, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 0.25 of-a-point to close at 1,695.62 from Wednesday's close of 1,695.37. After opening 0.78 of-a-point easier at 1,694.59 this morning, the benchmark index moved between 1,689.03 and 1,701.74 throughout the day. A dealer said the uptrend performance on the local stock market was also in line with most regional peers, with Singapore's Straits Times Index rising 3.59 points or 0.12 per cent to 3,042.24, Japan's Nikkei surging 139.01 points or 0.65 per cent to 21,646.55 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng improving 47.94 points or 0.18 per cent to 26,019.41. However, due to the current disappointing corporate results, it also prompted the sell-off on selected counters and capped the gains, he said. The dealer said the weakening of crude oil prices, with the global benchmark Brent crude price dropping to US$62.70 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate crude slipping to US$53.71 per barrel (at press time), put energy-related counters under heavy pressure. Among the oil and gas-linked heavyweights, Petronas Dagangan slid six sen to RM26.84, Dialog eased two sen to RM3.16 and Petronas Chemicals gave up one sen to RM9.24. Of heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB edged down one sen each to RM9.39 and RM5.65, respectively, Public Bank and TNB erased two sen each to RM24.80 and RM14.78, respectively. Of actives, Sapura Energy fell 1.5 sen to 36 sen, TATT Giap gained one sen to 25 sen and Berjaya Land increased 2.5 sen to 22 sen. Market breadth, however, was negative, with losers leading gainers 484 to 310, while 386 counters were unchanged, 727 untraded and 31 others suspended. Volume decreased to 1.75 billion units worth RM1.44 billion from 2.04 billion units worth RM1.93 billion on Wednesday. -- BERNAMA