KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended firmer on Friday, bolstered by buying interest in select index-related counters, despite a weaker broader market.
At 5pm, the 30-stock index was up 2.74 points, or 0.17% to 1,636.55 after hitting an intraday high of 1,638.29. The FBM KLCI finished up 1.08% for the week.
On Bursa Malaysia, there were 445 gainers, 736 losers, and 495 counters that remained unchanged. Turnover stood at 4.4 billion shares valued at RM3.3bil.
Leading the mover on the index was SD Guthrie, rising 20 sen to RM4.50, pushing the index up by 1.9965 points. Kuala Lumpur Kepong jumped 60 sen to RM21.50, contributing 0.9518 to the index.
Laggards among the KLCI component stocks were PETRONAS Gas, QL Resources and Sime Darby.
On the broader market, Theta Edge rose 47 sen to RM2.80, Quality Concrete gained 20 sen to RM1.29, Malaysian Pacific Industries
fell 62 sen to RM38.56 and Heineken declined 36 sen to RM23.14.
Stock market data revealed that foreign funds and retailers were net buyers of RM21mil and RM34mil, respectively, on Thursday, while local institutions were net sellers of RM55mil.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.6830 against the greenback, down 0.29%.
The local currency was up 0.19% against the euro at 5.0949. It rose 0.23% against the pound sterling at 6.0513 and fell 0.02% against the Singapore dollar at 3.4831.
Asian bourses closed broadly lower today, with Japan's Nikkei 225 losing 0.16%, South Korea’s Kospi closed down 1.02%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 2.03% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index added 0.17%.
