KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia bucked the downtrend seen in most regional stock markets to stay in positive territory on bargain hunting activities.
The FBM KLCI closed up 1.6 points, or 0.1% to 1,534.23 after moving between 1,541.11 and 1,531.84.
There were 556 gainers, 373 losers and 421 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. Turnover stood at 7.18 billion shares valued at RM3.6bil.
Dealers said activities picked up a little and the performance of the local bourse was boosted by bargain hunting following yesterday’s selloff.
According to data on Bursa Malaysia, foreign investors disposed of RM206mil of local equities on Wednesday.
On the other hand, local institutions and retailers acquired RM138mil and RM68mil worth of equities.
On Bursa Malaysia, Genetec jumped RM1.52 to RM10.02, MPI added 66 sen to RM39.46, Dutch Lady
gained 36 sen to RM33.96 and Panasonic Manufacturing rose 30 sen to RM32.98.
On the other hand, Heineken Malaysia lost 34 sen to RM23.26, Hartalega fell 21 sen to RM7.14, Carlsberg shed 12 sen to RM22.08 and Teck Guan gave up 12 sen to RM1.23.
Among the KLCI constituents stocks, Petronas Gas rose 12 sen to RM15.62, IHH Healthcare gained nine sen to RM5.56 and Sime Darby Plantations climbed eight sen to RM4.06.
The actives included Serba Dinamik, Sarawak Consolidated Industries, KPower, Sedania and Saudee.
Meanwhile, the ringgit is traded lower against the greenback. The local currency is quoted at 4.1552.
Oil prices edged higher on Thursday, supported by lower U.S. inventories ahead of Opec+ decision on supply cuts.
Brent crude gained 37 cents, or 0.49%, to US$75.13 a barrel while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 53 cents, or 0.72% to US$74 a barrel.
Among the key regional markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is down 0.29% to 28,707.04;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.57% to 28,827.95;
Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.07% to 3,588.78;
Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.23% to 17,713.94;
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.44% to 3,282.06 and;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined 0.07% to 3,128.14 points.