KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): The FBM KLCI breached the 1,570-point level on Wednesday, lifted by gains at select blue chips while regional markets were mired in the red on concerns over the eurozone debt crisis.
The FBM KLCI rose 9.85 points to 1,575.17. Gainers overtook losers by 378 to 331, while 318 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 920.86 million shares valued at RM1.25 billion.
Asian and European shares slipped and the euro touched a 23-month low on Wednesday as investors worried that Spain's banking problems would push its borrowing costs to unsustainable levels and after China signaled it is not planning a large stimulus package, according to Reuters.
The ongoing debt crisis in the eurozone and concerns that it could hurt fragile global growth have kept many investors in riskier assets like equities and commodities on the sidelines this week so prices have traded in narrow ranges, it said.
At the regional markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.92% to 18,690.22; Taiwan's Taiex lost 1.1% to 7,261.80; Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.28% to 8,633.19; South Korea's Kospi down 0.27% to 1,844.86; the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.21% to 2,384.67; and Singapore's Straits Times Index shed 0.64% to 2,783.95.
Among the gainers on Bursa Malaysia, BAT jumped RM2.30 to RM54.40; Tradewinds gained 31 sen to RM8.67; Genting Plantations gained 24 sen to RM9.24, Tasek, PPB and Aeon rose 20 sen each to RM8.60, RM16.12 and RM9.70 respectively; UMW gained 18 sen to RM8.03; Perduren was up 17 sen to 89 sen; and IOI Corp gained 15 sen to RM5.23.
Naim Indah Corp was the most actively-traded counter, with 74.1 million shares done. The stock gained 3.5 sen to 35.5 sen. Other actives included Ariantec, Metronic, Flonic, YTL, Hubline, JCY, HWGB and DSC Solutions.
Losers included S P Setia, Nestlé, BLD Plantations, Litrak, Parkson, Warisan, Kulim and Pestech.