Bursa Malaysia ends broadly higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended broadly higher yesterday, with buying support across the board and in tandem with the positive performance of regional bourses, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at 1,863.47, up 11.20 points from Thursday’s close of 1,852.27.

It opened 11.97 points higher and moved between 1,856.59 and 1,866.88 throughout the day.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 450 to 338, while 424 counters remained unchanged, 704 untraded and 78 others suspended.

Volume fell to 1.63 billion units worth RM1.87 billion from 2.04 billion units worth RM2.13 billion previously.

A dealer said Asian equities markets ended broadly higher on positive sentiment brought about by the higher overnight close on Wall Street and on the back of solid US corporate earnings.

“This was alongside a rebound in the technology sector and after US treasury yields retreated from recent highs.

“A historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea, which has eased tensions on the Korean peninsula, also helped boost sentiment,” he added.

Bursa Malaysia traded in positive territory throughout the session, with the barometer index supported by buying in selected heavyweights led by the financial sector.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.66 per cent to 22,467.87, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.91 per cent to 30,280.67, South Korea’s Kospi increased 0.68 per cent to 2,492 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index was 0.12 per cent better at 3,574.34.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added eight sen to RM10.76, Tenaga bagged two sen to RM15.86, Petronas Chemicals gained six sen to RM8.47and CIMB improved five sen to RM7.25.

Public Bank, however, slipped 12 sen to RM23.60.

Of the top gainers, Nestle rose RM1.90 to RM138.40, Fraser & Neave gained 48 sen to RM35.94 and Globetronics improved 31 sen to RM4.24.

For actives, EA HoldingsWarrants bagged one sen to 1.5 sen, Borneo Oil edged up halfa-sen at 8.5 sen, while Sapura Energy Nexgram and PUC were flat at 67.5 sen, 6.5 sen and 20 sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Index was 89.57 points higher at 12,988.73, the FBMT 100 Index rose 90.16 points to 12,806.93 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 88.67 points to 13,128.80.

The FBM 70 jumped 153.70 points to 15,406.05 and the FBM Ace improved 33.43 points to 5,309.14.

Sector-wise,the Finance Index increased 54.41 points to 18,275.89, the Industrial Index added 9.93 points to 3,210.57 and the Plantation Index gained 12.02 points to 7,977.24.

Main Market volume fell to 766.47 million shares worth RM1.70 billion from 1.07 billion shares worth RM1.90 billion on Thursday.

Warrants volume shrank to 448.07 million units valued at RM117 million from 605.65 million units valued at RM173.95 million.

Volume on the ACE Market increased to 411.84 million shares worth RM56.79 million from 366.91 million shares worth RM56.82 million.