Bursa Malaysia bucks regional trend to close higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend with the benchmark index closing marginally higher on last minute buying especially of heavyweights led by Public Bank.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 1.64 points better at 1,688.77 from yesterday’s close of 1,687.13 after moving between 1,679.18 and 1,689.34 throughout the day.

Public Bank pushed the composite index higher by 1.794 points. The stock soared 26 sen to close at RM22.80 with 5.52 million shares changing hands.

However, market breadth was negative, with losers outnumbering gainers 556 to 261, with 390 counters unchanged, 662 untraded and 19 others were suspended.

Volume improved to 2.08 billion units, valued at RM2.03 billion, from 1.99 billion units, worth RM2.24 billion, recorded yesterday.

A dealer said Asian equities were in full retreat after the United States said it would impose tariffs on an additional US$200 billion worth of Chinese imports, sharply escalating the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

Mainland China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index took the worst hit, plunging 1.76 per cent to 2,777.77.

Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gave up 1.19 per cent to 21,932.21, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng erased 1.29 per cent to 28,311.69, Singapore’s Straits Times lost 0.79 per cent to 3,249.08 and South Korea’s Kospi eased 0.59 per cent to 2,280.62.

On Bursa,, Tenaga rose eight sen to RM14.50, CIMB gained three sen to RM5.38 while Maybank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM9.14 and RM8.54, respectively.

Among actives, Sapura Energy shed one sen to 59.5 sen, Diversified Gateway eased halfa-sen to 7.5 sen but Nova MSC added half-a-sen to 18.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index fell 19.43 points to 11,888.75, the FBM70 erased 110.33 points to 14,401.58, the FBMT100 Index declined 13.6 points to 11,698.42, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 48.02 points to 12,008.5 and the FBM Ace Index decreased 79.98 points to 5,215.63.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index eased 6.29 points to 3,144.33 and the Plantation Index slid 0.45 of a point to 7,511.85.

However, the Finance Index reversed its earlier losses to close 39.39 points higher at 16,560.86 after Bank Negara Malaysia announced it was maintaining the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) unchanged at 3.25 per cent.

Main Market volume expanded to 1.15 billion shares, valued at RM1.73 billion, from 1.02 billion shares, worth RM1.97 billion, traded on Tuesday.

Warrants turnover increased to 731.25 million units, worth RM266.24 million, versus yesterday’s 673.61 million units worth RM199.73 million.

Volume on the ACE Market, however, reduced to 200.68 million shares, valued at RM35.7 million, from 2294.14 million shares, worth RM61.59 million, recorded previously.

Consumer products accounted for 40.88 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (263.77 million), construction (92.44 million), trade and services (457.6 million), technology (37.51 million), infrastructure (13.01 million), SPAC (677,100), finance (37.12 million), hotels (920,200), properties (181.27 million), plantations (14.81 million), mining (17,300), REITs (5.49 million) and closed/fund (19,000).