Bursa Malaysia ends at intraday high on positive sentiment

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished broadly higher yesterday with the benchmark index closing at its intraday high of 1,687.13, buoyed by positive market sentiment amid rising oil prices, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 14.50 points from Monday’s close of 1,672.63 after hitting a low of 1,675.05 in the early morning.

The market barometer, which opened 2.42 points better at 1,675.05, continued to move in the positive territory throughout the day on persistent buying in heavyweights led by Maxis.

Contributing 1.81 points to the composite index, Maxis rose 13 sen to RM5.40 with 3.54 million shares changing hands.

In line with the rising oil prices, Petronas Gas chalked up 48 sen to RM17.66, Petronas Chemicals gained three sen to RM8.54, Petronas Dagangan added two sen to RM24.94, while MISC perked 15 sen to RM6.06.

A dealer said sentiment in the market was positive with investors taking cue from the firm Wall Street closing overnight on hopes for upbeat corporate earnings.

He said the easing worries over the trade war had also helped to lift risk appetite globally, including the emerging markets.

Back home, advancers trounced decliners 455 to 341, with 421 counters unchanged, 651 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Volume slipped to 1.99 billion units valued at RM2.24 billion, from 2.01 billion units worth RM2.04 billion recorded on Monday.

Of the other heavyweights, Maybank rose six sen to RM9.14, Tenaga garnered 12 sen to RM14.42, and CIMB increased five sen to RM5.35.

Public Bank, however, was flat at RM22.54.

Top Glove, which was battered on Monday, rebounded strongly yesterday and emerged the most actively traded stock.

The counter rose 77 sen to RM9.90 with 49.41 million shares transacted.

Among other actives, Sapura Energy shed one sen to 60.5 sen, while both Borneo Oil and Barakah Offshore were flat at six sen and 14.5 sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Index surged 109.97 points to 11,908.18, the FBM70 climbed 188.79 points to 14,511.91 and the FBMT100 Index advanced 113.56 points to 11,712.02.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index soared 128.1 points to 12,056.52 and the FBM Ace Index edged up 63 points to 5,295.61.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index improved 88.61 points to 16,521.46, the Industrial Index perked 50.22 points to 3,150.62 and the Plantation Index increased 59.79 points to 7,512.3.

Main Market volume reduced slightly to 1.02 billion shares valued at RM1.97 billion, from 1.14 billion shares worth RM1.83 billion on Monday.

Warrants turnover increased to 673.61 million units valued at RM199.73 million, from 619.52 million units worth RM167.48 million.

Volume on the ACE Market improved to 294.14 million shares valued at RM61.59 million, from 250.03 million shares worth RM48.93 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 99.51 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (699.06 million), construction (50.00 million), trade and services (556.09 million), technology (58.73 million), infrastructure (48.09 million), SPAC (1.18 million), finance (338.32 million), hotels (1.76 million), properties (35.43 million), plantations (78.44 million), mining (55,480), REITs (7.54 million) and closed/fund (26,846).

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