Bursa Malaysia ends on mixed note

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended trading on a mixed note yesterday amid mild selling in selected heavyweights despite the positive sentiment on regional bourses, dealers said.

At the close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.92 of-a-point lower at 1,853.58 from Friday’s close of 1,854.50.

The index opened 3.81 points higher at 1,858.31 and moved between 1,851.68 and 1,864.94 throughout the day.

A dealer said on the global front, the United States (US) and China had concluded their two days of trade negotiations with an agreement not to impose tariffs on each other, pulling back both countries from the brink of a trade war.

The US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the world’s top two economies had made “meaningful progress” and that the US had agreed to put on hold proposed tariffs of up to US$150 billion on Chinese products while China would “significantly increase” its purchase of American goods and services.

Back home, another dealer said tycoon Robert Kuok’s return to Malaysia to attend the meeting with the other members of the Council of Eminent Persons was expected to boost confidence in the local stock market moving forward.

Among heavyweights, May bank improved six sento RM10.88, Public Bank rose 62 sen to RM25, Petronas Chemicals added one sen to RM8.70, while TNB slipped 26 sen to RM15.66 and CIMB fell 20 sen to RM6.60.

Among actives, MyEG and Hibiscus Petroleum gained 5.5 sen each to 98 sen and RM1.01, respectively, Sapura Energy advanced 1.5 sen to 77.5 sen, and GSB was 2.5 sen higher at 16 sen.

Market breadth was positive with gainers edging losers 493 to 476, with 355 counters unchanged, 560 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Volume decreased to 2.78 billion units valued at RM3.05 billion from Friday’s 2.91 billion units valued at RM3.16 billion.

The FBM Emas Index increased 17.08 points to 12,880.30, the FBM Ace eased 5.95 points to 5,379.15 and the FBMT 100 Index went up 15.52 points to 12,678.88.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up 4.88 points to 12,950.52 and the FBM 70 rose 93.59 points to 15,045.96.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index climbed 43.50 points to 18,371.79, the Industrial Index inched up 3.27 points to 3,307.16 while the Plantation Index increased 36.36 points to 7,958.60.

The Main Market volume dipped to 1.87 billion shares worth RM2.88 billion from Friday’s 1.96 billion shares worth RM3.01 billion. Warrants volume increased to 572.07 million units valued at RM124.60 million from Friday’s 535.13 million units valued at RM83.03 million.

Volume on the ACE Market declined to 337.31 million shares worth RM49.33 million from 411.18 million shares worth RM63.09 million previously.

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