Bursa Malaysia ends higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded from a lacklustre performance in the earlier session to end higher yesterday, bucking the performance of most of the Asian shares, said a dealer.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished at 1,757.96, up 3.29 points, from Friday’s close of 1,754.67.

It moved between 1,749.95 and 1,760.84. throughout the morning session after opening 1.53 points lower. On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 551 to 354 with 409 counters remained unchanged, 620 untraded and 39 others suspended.

Volume increased to 3.13 billion units valued at RM2.24 billion from 2.88 billion units valued at RM2.53 billion on Friday.

A dealer said Bursa Malaysia was in slightly choppy trading with buying interspersed with selling in blue-chip stocks amid negative external sentiments in the earlier session before turning positive in mid afternoon on buying support for index-linked counters led by IHH Healthcare and Petronas Chemicals.

Bursa Malaysia performance was in tandem with Southeast Asian shares which perform better yesterday.

Major Asian bourses, however, mostly dipped on Monday on fears of more protectionist measures from the United States, he said.

“The focus of markets remained on the escalating US-China trade war, with President Donald Trump recently quoted as saying he was prepared to impose tariffs on all Chinese imports into the country.

“Trump has unsettled markets yet again, and this time round, in ‘accusing’ China, the European Union and others of manipulating their currencies and interest rates, while also reiterating his dissatisfaction over the current US interest rate hikes,” he added.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.33 per cent to 22,396.99, the Singapore Straits Times Index decreased 0.22 per cent to 3,290.89, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.87 per cent to 2,269.31, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.15 per cent to 28,266.22.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.16 per cent to 7,399.61, while the Jakarta Composite Index added 0.66 per cent to 5,911.47.

The top gainers, Nestle rose 60 sen to RM148.600, BAT increased 48 sen to RM34.18 and Vitrox added 34 sen to RM5.79.

Of heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank added two sen each to RM9.81 and RM23.96, respectively, Petronas Chemicals gained seven sen to RM8.81, CIMB improved five sen to RM5.86, while Tenaga shed four sen to RM14.78.

Among actives, Sino Hua-An added five sen to 36 sen, MyEG rose six sen to RM1.30, Barakah Offshore gained 1.5 sen to 16.5 sen and Sapura Energy edged up half-a-sen to 59 sen.

The FBM Emas Index gained 66.30 points to 12,486.61, the FBMT100 Index increased 59.17 points to 12,268.25 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 87.65 points higher at 12,597.16.

The FBM70 jumped 209.27 points to 15,442.51 but the FBM Ace Index improved 36.13 points to 5,439.40.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was 4.65 points better at 3,218.81, the Finance Index gained 28.74 points to 17,355.09 and the Plantation Index perked 20.34 points to 7,500.57.

Main Market volume increased to 1.95 billion shares valued at RM1.85 billion from 1.75 billion shares valued at RM2.12 billion on Friday.

Warrants turnover was lower at 626.45 million units valued at RM209.46 million, versus Friday’s 690.2 million units valued at RM232.51 million.

Volume on the ACE Market rose to 550.37 million shares valued at RM173.73 million from 439.08 million shares valued at RM171.61 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 79.41 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (546.63 million), construction (251.01 million), trade and services (654.26 million), technology (98.40 million), infrastructure (16.09 million), SPAC (318,200), finance (39.94 million), hotels (471,200), properties (234.56 million), plantations (27.22 million), mining (38,200), REITs (3.54 million), and closed/fund (228,100).

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