Market Close KLCI erases gains on profit taking, falls 0.1%

Market Close KLCI erases gains on profit taking, falls 0.1%
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Shalini Kumar of theedgemalaysia.com
Wednesday, 14 August 2013 17:38

KUALA LUMPUR (August 14): The FBM KLCI erased earlier gains on profit taking. At 5pm, the KLCI fell 1.36 points or 0.08% to settle at 1,793.73.

The index which had earlier traded at an intraday high of 1,801.26 points, was dragged down by stocks like British American Tobabcco (M) Bhd (BAT), PETRONAS GAS BHD [], PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD [] and PUBLIC BANK BHD [].

Analysts said investors had locked in gains today following a positive run in the KLCI over the last two days. The benchmark had posted cumulative gains of 16 points last Monday and yesterday.

JF Apex Securities senior analyst Lee Cherng Wee said : “The gains made, especially on the index-linked counters would have seen investors locking in their profits".

Across Bursa Malaysia today, 2.2 billion shares worth RM1.7 billion were traded. There were 447 gainers versus 349 decliners.

The top gainer was SYARIKAT TAKAFUL MALAYSIA BHD [] while the leading decliner was BAT. The most-active counter was MALAYSIAN AIRLINE SYSTEM BHD [] (MAS).

MAS shares rose 2.5 sen to 34 sen with 270.4 million shares done.

Across Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei erased losses and, in a late surge, gained 1.3% to a one-week closing high.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 was down 0.01%, while Singapore’s Straits Times was 0.14% higher.

The Hong Kong exchange was closed today due to Typhoon Utor. According to Reuters, stocks fell in much of Asia after US sales data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon pare its stimulus.