KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed higher on Monday, driven by gains in banking stocks, as corporate earnings take centre stage this week with the results season in its final stretch.
At 5pm, the 30-stock index was up 7.67 points, or 0.48% to 1,597.45. It traded within a range of 20.83 points between an intra-day high of 1,609.29 and a low of 1,588.46.
There were 501 gainers, 540 losers, and 479 counters traded unchanged in Bursa Malaysia. Turnover stood at three billion billion shares valued at RM5.4bil.
Among the KLCI component stocks, 16 counters closed higher while 16 counters fell.
Leading the mover on the index was CIMB, jumping 16 sen to RM8.38, pushing the index up by 2.5190 points. Public Bank closed seven sen higher at RM4.43, adding 1.9956 points to the index while YTL Power rose 16 sen to RM3.06, nudging the index higher by 1.9427 points.
Maybank rose 10 sen to RM10.30, Hong Leong Bank gained 40 sen to RM20.88, RHB Bank added 11 sen to RM6.61.
Laggards among the KLCI component stocks were Nestle, PPB group, PETRONAS Gas and IHH Healthcare.
On the broader market, Malaysian Pacific Industries
gained 28 sen to RM24.68, ViTrox rose 23 sen to RM3.58, while Oriental Holdings fell 41 sen to RM7.15, and F&N slipped 40 sen to RM28.
Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 73 cents to US$70.51 and Brent declined 67 cents to US$74.50 per barrel.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 1.3%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.41% while South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.32%.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.46% and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.11%.
