Bursa Malaysia ends higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia maintained its upward momentum throughout the day to finish higher yesterday, supported by gains in selected heavyweights and underpinned by the stronger ringgit against US dollar, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI finished at 1,825.91, up 3.24 points from Friday’s close of 1,822.67, after opening 2.57 points better at 1,825.24.
The market barometer moved between 1,824.56 and 1,827.25 throughout the day.
The overall market breadth, however, was bearish as losers outnumbered gainers by 685 to 378, while 376 counters were unchanged, 384 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover rose to 5.40 billion units valued at RM3.33 billion from Friday’s 3.93 billion units valued at RM3.28 billion.
A dealer said Asian bourses were mostly higher yesterday, benefitting from the strong finish on Wall Street last week while the US dollar retreated against most major currencies, including the ringgit.
He said the US stocks extended their gains on Friday with record closes as the earnings season kicked off with solid results from banks and robust retail sales drove investor optimism about economic growth.
At 5pm, the ringgit was quoted at 3.9560/9590 against the US dollar, up from Friday’s close of 3.9750/9780.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell by 18.30 points to 13,204.30, FBMT 100 Index eased 15.35 points to 12,847.31, FBM Emas Shariah Index was 47.24 points weaker at 13,660.09, FBM 70 dropped 147.46 points to 16,479.70 and the FBM Ace fell 85.34 points to 6,820.44.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index eased 0.25 of-a-point to 17,210.66, Industrial Index shed 5.48 points to 3,394.06 and the Plantation Index erased 13.42 points to 8,124.40.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank were flat at RM9.85 and RM20.88, respectively, TNB rose four sen to RM15.82 while Petronas Chemicals added 10 sen to RM8.18.
Of the actives, UMW O&G and P.A. Resources eased half-a-sen each to 41.5 sen and 11 sen, respectively and Sapura Energy decreased two sen to 88 sen. Sumatec Resources rose 3.5 sen to 10.5 sen.
Main Market volume rose to 3.93 billion units worth RM3.08 billion from 2.61 billion units worth RM3.05 billion last Friday.
Volume on the ACE Market improved to 871.20 million shares valued at RM153.36 million from last week’s 665.68 million shares valued at RM127.37 million.
Warrants’ volume increased to 596.12 million units worth RM102.41 million from 606.83 million units worth RM99.3 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 16.78 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (847.04 million), construction (176.06 million), trade and services (2.41 billion), technology (145.22 million), infrastructure (6.13 million), SPAC (1.58 million), finance (61.60 million), hotels (485,400), properties (90.02 million), plantations (50.35 million), mining (8.08 million), REITs (10.03 million), and closed/fund (21,900).