Bursa Malaysia closes higher on mild buying interest

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher yesterday on continued mild buying in selected heavyweights led by Public Bank, as well as mid and small-cap stocks, amid the weaker trend in most regional peers, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was firmer at 1,785.94, up 2.16 points or 0.12 per cent, from Tuesday’s close of 1,783.78.

The index opened 0.80 of-apoint higher at 1,784.58 and moved between 1,783.58 and 1,789.05 throughout the trading session.

Market breadth was slightly negative with losers outpacing gainers 461 to 434 while 439 were unchanged, 549 untraded and 32 others suspended.

Volume improved to 2.40 billion units worth RM2.03 billion, from 2.31 billion units valued at RM2.47 billion previously.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd, head of research Kenny Yee said although the FBM KLCI had improved slightly, the local bourse’s overall performance was mixed as losers outpaced gainers by 27.

“Investors sentiment remains cautious even though the Turkish authorities had taken steps to contain the crisis and support its currency.

“However, the ongoing corporate results season, which saw better-thanexpected numbers for Petronas Dagangan and Petronas Gas had lifted buying sentiment in the local equity market,” he told Bernama yesterday.

Of the heavyweights, Public Bank rose eight sen to RM24.48, Tenaga added 16 sen to RM15.82, Petronas Chemicals improved 20 sen to RM9.30 and CIMB bagged three sen to RM5.88.

However, Maybank shed one sen to RM9.79.

As for the most actively traded counters, Foundpac eased 6.5 sen to 38 sen, Borneo Oil was flat at six sen while Goodway rose eight sen to 29 sen.

The FBM Emas Index increased 13.69 points to 12,642.46, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 34.88 points higher at 12,822.28 but the FBM Ace Index declined 2.70 points to 5,534.96.

The FBMT 100 Index was up 11.87 points to 12,412.36 and the FBM 70 recovered 3.10 points to 15,433.68.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index slipped 15.91 points to 17,425.86, the Plantation Index was 22.51 points easier at 7,619.89, but the Industrial Index perked 9.83 points to 3,244.34.

Main Market volume rose to 1.67 billion shares worth RM1.84 billion, from 1.64 billion shares valued at RM2.30 billion recorded on Tuesday.

Warrants turnover fell to 350.54 million units worth RM81.13 million, against 370.14 million units worth RM86.76 million traded previously.

Volume on the ACE Market improved to 378.80 million shares valued at RM105.46 million, versus Tuesday’s 327.43 million shares worth RM84.02 million.

Consumer products accounted for 187.14 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (472.61 million), construction (101.76 million), trade and services (493.20 million), technology (176.34 million), infrastructure (15.83 million), SPAC (43,000), finance (38.77 million), hotels (935,900), properties (139.48 million), plantations (41.10 million), mining (5,500), REITs (6.13 million), and closed/fund (6,000).

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