KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed slightly higher on Thursday in a cautious market, while the ringgit weakened as the US dollar approached a two-year peak.
The FBM KLCI gained 0.51 points, or 0.03%, closing at 1,600.09, just shy of its intraday high of 1,600.73. All sectoral indices, except utilities and healthcare, ended in the red.
Market activity was encouraging, with 3.2 billion shares worth RM3.03 billion changing hands. However, market breadth was negative, as 693 securities closed lower, while 339 ended higher.
Reuters reported that the US dollar flirted with a two-year peak on Thursday after the Federal Reserve signalled a slower pace of rate cuts in 2025.
The ringgit declined 0.83% against the US dollar, the highest since Aug 1, 2024.
The local currency gained 0.05% against the euro, reaching 4.6885. It fell 0.45% against the pound sterling at 5.6968 and 0.21% against the Singapore dollar at 3.3138.
On Bursa Malaysia, YTL Power surged 42 sen, or 11.48%, to RM4.08, its highest since August 22, after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission cleared a subsidiary of the company of wrongdoing.
YTL Power contributed 5.0546 points to the FBM KLCI.
YTL Corp surged 19.16%, or 41 sen, to RM2.55, lifting the index by 6.6247 points.
Laggards among the KLCI component stocks include PETRONAS Chemicals, Tenaga Nasional and Maybank.
On the broader market, Ayer gained 36 sen to RM7.56, Hong Leong Industries rose 24 sen to RM14.40, while Malaysian Pacific Industries dropped 28 sen to RM26 and Scientex declined 20 sen to RM4.30.
Newly listed Winstar Capital closed up 45.71%, or 16 sen to 51 sen with 82.36 million shares traded.
On the external front, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.69% to close at 38,813.58 while South Korea’s Kospi closed down 1.95% at 2,435.93.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.56% to 19,752.51.
China’s CSI300 index closed up 0.09% at 3,945.46 and Shanghai Composite index was down 0.36% at 3,370.03.