Bursa Malaysia closes at day’s high of 1,788.31

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended its uptrend to close higher yesterday at the day’s high of 1,788.31, up 0.22 per cent or 4.6 points, supported by continued buying interest in selected heavyweights led by finance-related stocks, said a dealer.

The index opened 6.40 points lower at 1,777.85 and moved between 1,777.58 and 1,788.31 throughout the trading session.

On the broader market, gainers led losers by 449 to 433, with 441 counters unchanged, 554 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Volume increased to 2.32 billion units worth RM2.05 billion, from Tuesday’s 2.71 billion units valued at RM3.05 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd Head of Research, Kenny Yee said the uptrend of the benchmark index indicated that local market sentiment has improved, as there was a positive net fund inflow yesterday amid investors’ expectations of better corporate earnings.

“Besides that, the newly appointed board members of sovereign state fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd has also lent support, given the fact it is said to be managed by professionals, as quoted by Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali,” Yee told Bernama.

Azmin, who is on the board of Khazanah, is also the Economic Affairs Minister.

Externally, Yee said the positive overnight performance of Wall Street and Apple’s upbeat earnings results, which stabilised the Nasdaq, had also impacted the local bourse and most regional peers.

Of the heavyweights, financelinked counters were traded firmer with Maybank gaining four sen to RM9.85, while Public Bank rose 14 sen to RM24.20, CIMB improved one sen to RM5.85 and Hong Leong Bank increased eight sen to RM19.14.

Tenaga eased 38 sen to RM15.30 while Petronas Chemicals added eight sen to RM9.01.

Among actives, Nova MSC rose half-a-sen to 19 sen, Sumatec was flat at four sen while Sapura Energy fell half-a-sen to 60 sen.

Of the top gainers, Petronas Gas put on 46 sen to RM19.20, Perstima perked 36 sen to RM5.20 and Malaysia Airports increased 23 sen to RM9.48.

The FBM Emas Index was 33.05 points higher at 12,666.20, the FBMT 100 Index recovered 32.74 points to 12,452.84 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 21.29 points to 12,832.04.

The FBM 70 gained 57.59 points to 15,573.53 and the FBM Ace Index improved 45.41 points to 5,445.67.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index increased 0.54 of-a-point to 7,629.76, the Industrial Index was up 16.18 points at 3,291.94 and the Finance Index rose 67.73 points to 17,497.56.

Main Market volume decreased to 1.38 billion shares worth RM1.81 billion, from 1.52 billion shares valued at RM2.85 billion recorded on Tuesday.

Warrant turnover was lower at 448.63 million units valued at RM114.16 million, versus Tuesday’s 452.51 million units worth RM110.58 million.

Volume on the ACE Market fell to 490.07 million shares worth RM127.30 million, from 734.87 million shares valued at RM80.78 million transacted previously.

Consumer products accounted for 49.98 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (219.22 million), construction (124.26 million), trade and services (647.89 million), technology (96.51 million), infrastructure (37.00 million), SPAC (185,200), finance (52.82 million), hotels (2.32 million), properties (126.58 million), plantations (24.53 million), mining (13,900), REITs (8.22 million), and closed/fund (2,000).