Market Close KLCI falls on banking, telco stocks; regional markets rise

by **Cals** Wed 09 Apr 2014, 01:55

Market Close KLCI falls on banking, telco stocks; regional markets rise

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Jonathan Gan of theedgemalaysia.com

Tuesday, 08 April 2014 17:26

KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 8): The FBM KLCI fell, led by banking and telco stocks.

But there were rises in regional markets.

At market close today, the FBM KLCI fell 10.59 points or 0.57% to settle at 1852.31 on the back of falling stocks such as Public Bank, CIMB, Axiata, Digi and Sapura Kencana.

The market saw trades of 1.89 billion shares worth RM2.08 billion.

The market had stayed in the negative territory for the entire day amid bearish sentiment, with decliners leading gainers by 424 to 389.

Choo Swee Kee, Chief Investment Officer at TA Investment Management Bhd, told theedgemalaysia.com that the local funds were neutral on the market today as there are no major catalysts on the horizon.

“There were some foreign funds coming into the Asia Pacific market, but not into Malaysia. One reason (for the fall) could be that on comparative valuation, Malaysia is considered a premium compared to regional markets,” Choo said.

The top gainer today was Ecoworld, which saw a 43 sen gain. The top decliner was Dana Infra, which lost 99 sen. The most active stock was Symphony.

In the region, most Asian markets rose to shrug off early losses.

Reuters reported that the market had risen, helped by Chinese shares rising sharply on stimulus hopes, though Japanese equities slumped as the yen clung to its gains after the Bank of Japan held policy steady.

The Kospi rose 0.17% to 1993.03 and the Hang Seng gained 0.98% to 22596.97. The Nikkei 225 fell 1.36% to 14606.88