Bursa Malaysia ends higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher yesterday on persistent buying in selected heavyweights and finance counters after a weak performance on Tuesday, and in line with most regional bourses, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.77 points to close at 1,800.71 versus Tuesday’s 1,792.94.

After opening 1.78 points higher at 1,794.72 yesterday, the index moved between 1,794.61 and 1,805.65 throughout the day.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 502 to 368, with 384 counters unchanged, 629 untraded and 25 others suspended.

Volume was higher at 2.01 billion units worth RM1.90 billion, from Tuesday’s 1.79 billion units valued at RM1.98 billion.

A dealer said that global markets were attempting to power higher yesterday as investors mostly brushed away the latest escalation in tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two largest economies.

“There is also a sense of some relief among investors that the United States could be softening its stance after it imposed 10 per cent tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, instead of the expected 25 per cent.

“This has provided some quiet optimism that both sides will attempt to return to the negotiation table later down the line to resolve the prolonged trade tensions,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Of heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM9.75. Public Bank jumped 16 sen to RM25.06, CIMB gained eight sen to RM6.12 while TNB slipped four sen to RM15.78 and Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM9.41.

Among actives, Sapura Energy declined 1.5 sen to 43 sen, while MyEG improved five sen to RM1.75, Vortex Consolidated earned halfra-sen to eight sen with Malaysian Resources and QES added one sen each to 72.5 sen and 32 sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Index rose 52.47 points to 12,542.63, the FBMT 100 Index increased 49.92 points to 12,360.49, the FBM 70 advanced 46.78 points to 14,791.86, the FBM Ace Index went up 29.48 points to 5,183.11 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 55.03 points to 12,681.59.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index surged 135.46 points to 17,832.03, the Plantation Index added 40.27 points to 7,554.08 but the Industrial Index shed 3.83 points to 3,212.30.

Main Market volume increased to 1.31 billion shares worth RM1.73 billion, from Tuesday’s 1.09 billion shares worth RM1.80 billion.

Warrants turnover fell to 391.63 million units valued at RM97.89 million, from 462.41 million units worth RM130.63 million registered on Tuesday.

Volume on the ACE Market improved to 300.27 million units worth RM63.52 million, from 238.05 million shares valued at RM48.94 million recorded previously.

Consumer products accounted for 72.94 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (258.37 million), construction (112.89 million), trade and services (596.28 million), technology (92.85 million), infrastructure (15.04 million), SPAC (15.34 million), finance (36.27 million), hotels (696,700), properties (95.52 million), plantations (15.59 million), mining (21,700), REITs (2.88 million), and closed/fund (5,000).

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