KL shares end higher

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended higher yesterday, lifted by the stronger ringgit, better economic data and firmer oil prices, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI finished at 1,822.67, up 5.79 points, from Thursday’s close of 1,816.88, and after opening 8.13 points higher at 1,825.01.

The market barometer moved between 1,818.78 and 1,825.81 throughout the day.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said market sentiment was bullish following the release of an encouraging set of Industrial Production Index (IPI) data by the Department of Statistics which showed the fastest IPI growth in three months.

“This triggered the optimism that the economy is going to perform better in 2018,” he told Bernama.

Malaysia’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) rose by 5.0 per cent, year-on-year, in November 2017 supported by the positive growth in the output of the three main sectors of manufacturing, mining and electricity.

The manufacturing index jumped 6.7 per cent during the month, while mining went up 0.2 per cent and electricity by 3.9 per cent.

At 5pm, the ringgit was quoted at 3.9700/9730 against the US dollar, up from Thursday’s close of 3.9850/9900.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil breached US$70 per barrel in overnight trade, the highest recorded since 2014.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index increased 66.899 points to 13,222.6, the FBMT 100 Index rose 62.24 points to 12,862.66, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 65.771 points higher at 13,707.33, the FBM 70 surged 151.801 points to 16,627.16 and the FBM Ace improved 40.58 points to 6,905.78.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index added 69.74 points to 17,210.91, the Industrial Index increased 20.37 points to 3,399.54 and the Plantation Index gained 50.19 points to 8,137.82.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals added one sen each to RM9.85 and RM8.08, respectively, Public Bank gained two sen to RM20.88 and CIMB garnered three sen to RM6.78 while TNB lost four sen to RM15.78.

Of actives, UMW O&G added 1.5 sen to 42 sen, Sapura Energy and Sino Hua-An perked three sen each to 90 sen and 60 sen, respectively, and PA Resources gained two sen to 11.5 sen. Borneo Oil was flat at nine sen. The overall market breadth was bullish as gainers outnumbered losers 643 to 389, while 389 counters were unchanged, 403 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Total turnover fell to 3.93 billion units, valued at RM3.28 billion, from Thursday’s 4.01 billion units, worth RM3.04 billion.

Main Market volume rose to 2.65 billion units, worth RM3.05 billion, from 2.41 billion units, valued at RM2.78 billion, transacted on Thursday.

Volume on the ACE Market dwindled to 665.68 million shares, valued at RM127.37 million, from Thursday’s 1.14 billion shares worth RM190.04 million.

Warrants’ volume increased to 606.83 million units, worth RM99.3 million, from 451.64 million units, valued at RM65.11 million, recorded on Thursday.

For further information on stocks and prices, please visitwww.bursamalaysia.com.