BURSA Malaysia was subdued a day before Christmas after its rallies since last Wednesday, hitting a low of 16 points before closing marginally higher at 1,749.74 points.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI’s (FBM KLCI) 0.69-point increase was boosted by gains in select blue chips and the overall firmer Asian markets, dealers said.
The benchmark index, however, staged a fairly muted response to Wall Street breaching the 18,000- mark yesterday.
This was in tandem with the Asian stock markets, which rose on the positive news that the United States gross domestic product for the third quarter rose by five per cent, helped by consumer spending and business investment.
Reuters reported Asian stocks gained and the dollar stood tall yesterday, thanks to surprisingly robust US economic growth, helping investors head into the Christmas holidays in a more relaxed mood after the global market turbulence of the past two weeks.
Bursa Malaysia’s total volume fell to 1.05 billion shares worth RM995.56 million, from 1.51 billion shares valued at RM1.67 billion on Tuesday.
The local stock market will be closed today for Christmas and
will resume trading tomorrow.