Market Close KLCI up 0.1% in volatile trade amid Ukraine, Iraq geopolitical tension

by **Cals** Thu 19 Jun 2014, 03:18

Market Close KLCI up 0.1% in volatile trade amid Ukraine, Iraq geopolitical tension

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Jeffrey Tan of theedgemalaysia.com

Wednesday, 18 June 2014 17:25

KUALA LUMPUR (June 18): The FBM KLCI ended 1.98 points or 0.1% higher in volatile trade, amid escalating geopolitical tension in Iraq and Ukraine.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,876.58. Areca Capital CEO Danny Wong expects the KLCI to continue trading in a tight range this month, as geopolitical tension continues unabated in Ukraine and Iraq.

“We see the market trading in a tight range this month,” Wong told theedgemalaysia.com over the telephone.

However, he noted that for the past three months, foreign funds have been ploughing into local equities as fund managers rebalanced their portfolio following optimistic performance in the US economy.

Across Bursa Malaysia, two billion shares, worth RM1.9 billion were traded.

Market gainers led decliners by 468 versus 350, with 324 counters unchanged.

The top gainer was Metal Reclamation Bhd while the leading decliner was British American Tobacco (M) Bhd. The most-active counter was Malaysian Airline System Bhd.

Across Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.93%, but South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.6%. Singapore’s Straits Times Index closed 0.07% up.

In China, the Shanghai Composite ended 0.54% lower while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.07%.

According to Reuters, data out of China showed home prices there fell in May for the first time in two years, but analysts were divided on whether this was a welcome cool down in an overheated sector or the start of something more serious.

The dollar held firm with higher treasury yields on Wednesday after a surprisingly high reading for US inflation threatened to give a hawkish tilt to the Federal Reserve's policy outlook later in the session.

The risk was more than enough to keep most Asian share markets on the defensive with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan off 0.2 percent.