Malaysia's Stock Market Ends Mixed, CI Up 0.82 Of-a-Point

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) ended mixed Monday with the benchmark index finishing slightly higher, in line with the firmer regional markets which were driven by strong external factors. A dealer said the factors included stronger expectations of US President Donald Trump's tax-cut decision and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's resounding victory in Sunday’s general election. At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched up 0.82 of-a-point, or 0.047 per cent to close at 1,741.47 compared with last Friday's close of 1,740.65. After opening 1.64 points higher at 1,742.29, the index moved between 1,741.38 and 1,744.86 throughout the day. Market breadth was however negative with losers outpacing gainers by 453 to 434, with 364 counters unchanged, 600 untraded and 19 others suspended. Volume increased to 2.72 billion shares worth RM1.95 billion from last Friday's 2.58 billion units valued at RM2.22 billion. Regionally, Singapore's Straits Times index rose 8.01 points or 0.24 per cent to 3,348.74, Japan's Nikkei surged 239.01 points or 1.11 per cent to 21,696.65 and Shanghai Composite Index improved 2.05 points or 0.06 per cent to 3,380.70. Besides, the dealer said firmer commodity prices, including benchmark Brent crude oil prices which stood at US$57.75 per barrel today, also lent support to the local key index. On the home front, heavyweights Sime Darby edged up five sen to RM9.11 while Maybank fell five sen to RM9.24, Tenaga declined two sen to RM14.30, Petronas Chemicals gave up four sen to RM7.50, and Public Bank was unchanged at RM20.46. Among active counters, Notion Vtec perked 3.5 sen to 73.5 sen, Inta Bina bagged five sen to 36.5 sen while Asia Bioenergy trimmed half-a-sen to 18 sen. Trive Property and its warrant eased three sen and half-a-sen to 21.5 sen and 5.5 sen, respectively. Sector-wise, the Industrial Index grew 22.31 points to 3,212.54 but the Plantation Index declined 17.64 points to 7,904.95 and the Finance Index erased 6.47 points to 16,289.62. -- BERNAMA