Bursa Malaysia ends at 3-month high

KUALA LUMPUR: Persistent buying support in selected bluechips, led by Maybank, pushed Bursa Malaysia to end at a threemonth high yesterday, in tandem with the better performance on regional bourses, dealers said.

At the close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 3.01 points better at 1,811.6 after moving between 1,804.89 and 1,814.748 throughout the day.

The index opened 0.99 of a point lower at 1,807.06 from Friday’s close of 1,808.59.

Contributing 2.345 points to the composite index, Maybank rose 12 sen to RM9.93 with 12.8 million shares changing hands.

However, on the broader market, losers thumped gainers 572 to 376 with 374 counters unchanged, 551 untraded and 20 others suspended. Volume improved to 2.75 billion units worth RM2.02 billion from Friday’s 2.59 billion units valued at RM2.20 billion.

A dealer said despite the corporate earnings season almost over, a factor that has been driving demand for the last couple of weeks, sentiment in the local market and on regional bourses was fuelled by US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s recent dovish speech on plans to raise interest rates.

Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times Index increased 0.41 per cent to 3,226.32, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index soared 2.17 per cent to 28,271.27 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.88 per cent to 22,799.64.

Of the heavyweights, Public Bank bagged eight sen to RM24.98, Tenaga gained two sen to RM15.72, Petronas Chemicals rose 13 sen to RM9.50, but CIMB trimmed two sen to RM5.96.

Among actives, Sapura Energy lost four sen to 37.5 sen, Xinghe inched down half-a-sen to four sen, while Borneo Oil, Priceworth and Sumatec were flat at 6.5 sen, 6.5 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index increased 9.56 points to 12,751.05, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 14.65 points to 12,543.46 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 2.17 points to 12,883.96.

The FBM 70 shed 5.14 points to 15,420.23, while the FBM Ace Index fell 34.03 points to 5,401.07.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 66.84 points higher at 17,751.57, the Industrial Index gained 4.7 points to 3,243.96, but the Plantation Index lost 54.77 points to 7,590.58.

Main Market volume narrowed to 1.74 billion shares worth RM1.79 billion from Friday’s 1.90 billion shares worth RM2.02 billion.

Warrants turnover improved to 484.92 million units valued at RM139.44 million against 387.22 million units valued at RM93.18 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market increased to 531.48 million shares valued at RM95.66 million versus Friday’s 300.06 million shares valued at RM94.52 million.

Consumer products accounted for 75.32 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (3.31 million), construction (115.84 million), trade and services (941.76 million), technology (85.46 million), infrastructure (6.26 million), SPAC (2.87 million), finance (47.52 million), hotels (205,800 million), properties (111.4 million), plantations (15.98 million), mining (13,000), REITs (2.36 million), and closed/fund (110,700).

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