Bursa benchmark rises despite broader market declines
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing counters 291 to 150, with trading turnover reaching RM178.87 million.
Malaysia’s FBM KLCI stood at 1,622.48 at 9.18am on November 3, up 2.97 points after moving between gains and losses during early trading. Wall Street had delivered a mixed overnight performance.
The benchmark started trading at 1,620.76, a rise of 1.25 points from its previous close of 1,619.51. Market breadth was negative, with 291 counters declining and 150 advancing. Another 282 were unchanged. Trading volume reached 276.83 million units, valued at RM178.87 million.
Banking heavyweights advanced: Maybank added six sen to RM10.04, CIMB increased four sen to RM6.96 and Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.81. By contrast, Tenaga Nasional dropped two sen to RM13.28 and IHH Healthcare lost seven sen to RM7.78.
Among actively traded shares, AirAsia rose 3.5 sen to 48 sen, while Nationgate declined nine sen to RM1.97. Nestle recorded the largest gain, adding 42 sen to RM96.54. MPI led declining stocks, losing 58 sen to RM39.20.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng told Bernama he expected subdued trading ahead of the US mid-term election on November 3, with the benchmark likely to move between 1,615 and 1,625. He said bargain hunting had supported the previous session’s recovery and foreign buying appeared to be returning intermittently.
