Bursa Malaysia ends marginally higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed marginally higher for the third consecutive day, in line with its regional peers and in tandem with the strong overnight performance on Wall Street, said a dealer.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 0.85 of-a-point better at 1,763.78, from Tuesday’s close of 1,762.93.

It moved between 1,760.77 and 1,766.05 throughout the day after opening 1.98 points weaker at 1,760.95.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 543 to 387 with 430 counters remaining unchanged, 570 untraded and 28 others were suspended.

Volume increased to 3.75 billion units, valued at RM2.70 billion, from Tuesday’s 3.34 billion units worth RM2.68 billion.

A dealer said Asian shares echoed the overnight gains on Wall Street, which reignited optimism as another bout of strong earnings in technology and healthcare-based companies drove benchmark indexes higher.

“News of the Chinese government taking steps to boost growth, which include infrastructure spending and tax cuts also helped bring about positive sentiment to the market,” he said.

On the local front, Bursa Malaysia saw active trading particularly in trade, services and financial sector related stocks led by Tenaga, Petronas Dagangan, Maybank and CIMB.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.46 per cent to 22,614.25, the Singapore Straits Times Index increased 1.10 per cent to 3,328.96, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.90 per cent to 28,920.90 but South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.31 per cent to 2,273.03.

Of heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM9.81, Public Bank improved two sen to RM24.0, Tenaga rose 10 sen to RM14.88, Petronas Chemicals gained one sen to RM8.81 and CIMB bagged three sen to RM5.89.

Among actives, Sapura Energy improved 3.5 sen to 62 sen, Velesto added 1.5 sen to 30.5 sen, Sumatec Resources edged up half-a-sen to 4.5 sen while MRCB eased half-asen to 77.5 sen.

Top gainers, Petronas Dagangan rose 54 sen to RM26.84, United Plantation increased 58 sen to RM27.0 and Panasonic Manufacturing gained 44 sen to RM37.58.

The FBM Emas Index was 10.44 points higher at 12,544.27, the FBMT 100 Index increased 5.39 points to 12,316.62, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 7.81 points to 12,680.02, the FBM 70 added 4.93 points to 15,532.34 and the FBM Ace Index rose 39.97 points to 5,522.35.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index surged 49.74 points to 17,398.49, the Industrial Index gained 1.34 points to 3,238.23 but the Plantation Index fell 26.62 points to 7,541.96.

Main Market volume increased to 2.57 billion shares, valued at RM2.37 billion, from 2.19 billion shares worth RM2.30 billion, recorded on Tuesday.

Warrants’ turnover was higher at 701.50 million units, valued at RM207.65 million, versus Tuesday’s 510.66 million units worth RM136.45 million.

Volume on the ACE Market fell to 482.72 million shares, worth RM122.96 million, from 647.17 million shares valued at RM250.31 million, transacted previously.

Consumer products accounted for 125.84 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (495.15 million), construction (294.08 million), trade and services (1.05 billion), technology (221.26 million), infrastructure (18.88 million), SPAC (812,800), finance (94.47 million), hotels (9.16 million), properties (226.19 million), plantations (28.28 million), mining (32,700), REITs (3.96 million), and closed/fund (9,200).

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