Last-minute buying lifts Bursa Malaysia higher at close

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher yesterday on last-minute buying in selected index-linked counters despite a weaker trend on regional stock markets.

At 5pm, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed 2.20 points higher at 1,690.95 from Wednesday’s close of 1,688.45.

The index opened 1.77 points higher at 1,690.22 and moved between 1,682.35 and 1,691.62 throughout the trading session.

A dealer said the market barometer was in range-bound mode in the morning session and was mostly in the red territory throughout the afternoon session before mild bargain hunting in the last few minutes of trading lifted the the index higher.

Regionally, he said stock markets were lower on cautious sentiment ahead of a deadline when tariffs from the US and China were due to be implemented, scheduled for this Friday.

“Asian stocks deepened their losses with major markets finishing the session lower as concerns over a trade dispute between the US and China have weighed on market sentiment,” he said.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index eased 25.24 points to 2,733.88, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 59.58 points to 28,182.09 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 170.05 points to 21,546.99.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose five sen to RM9.03, Tenaga added two sen to RM14.42, Petronas Chemicals gained one sen to RM8.46 and CIMB perked seven sen to RM5.53.

Public Bank lost eight sen to RM22.90.

Among actives, Nova MSC climbed half-a-sen to 17 sen and Astro Malaysia added four sen to RM1.63 while Sumatec was flat at 4.5 sen.

Sapura Energy lost one sen to 60.5 sen and TM eased four sen to RM3.50.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 20.56 points to 11,970.89, the FBM70 jumped 48.97 points to 14,708.21 and the FBMT100 Index increased 21.32 points to 11,769.77.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 12.83 points to 12,132.22 but the FBM Ace Index edged down 11.37 points to 5,260.95.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 33.81 points to 16,599.5, the Industrial Index edged up 12.02 points to 3,131.8 and the Plantation Index increased 6.18 points to 7,502.66.

Losers led gainers 451 to 405, with 357 counters unchanged, 654 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Volume was higher at 2.17 billion units valued at RM1.44 billion from Wednesday’s 2.03 billion units valued at RM1.63 billion.

Main Market volume increased to 1.23 billion shares worth RM1.18 billion from Wednesday’s 1.20 billion shares worth RM1.40 billion.

Warrants turnover rose to 626.1 million units valued at RM191.07 million from Wednesday’s 448.11 million units valued at RM143.21 million.

Volume on the ACE Market shrank to 312.66 million shares worth RM66.06 million from 383.39 million shares worth RM87.68 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 63.90 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (222.18 million), construction (109.018 million), trade and services (600.31 million), technology (41.08 million), infrastructure (10.76 million), SPAC (2.40 million), finance (32.24 million), hotels (20.18 million), properties (107.21 million), plantations (17.42 million), mining (nil), REITs (3.56 million) and closed/fund (2,000).

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