Bursa Malaysia ends trading on high note

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended its trading activity on a bullish note, thanks to the happy ending to the possible escalation of the trade war between the United States and China.

The breakthrough came after a dinner meeting between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, at the G20 summit in Bu en os Aires, when both leaders decided to halt additional tariffs, hence preventing the trade war from escalating.

“There was a big sigh of relief when the world’s largest economic leaders came out with the decision. We can expect a more positive economic outlook as we close the year, amid higher global oil prices, a dealer said.

At 5 pm, the FT SE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 19.86 points or 1.182 per cent better at 1,699.72 from Friday’s close of 1,679.86, after opening 5.88 points higher at 1,685.74.

The index moved between 1,6874 and 1,700.67 throughout the morning session.

On the broader market, gainers trounced losers 568 to 338, while 327 counters were unchanged, 633 untraded and 21 others were suspended.

Volume narrowed to 2.52 billion units, valued at RM 2.29 billion, from 3.08 billion units, worth RM4.55 billion, trade on Friday.

RHB Research Institute, in its note earlier, said: “Trump decided not to impose further tariffs on US$200 billion of Chinese goods which would have come into force on Jan 1, 2019, while Beijing agreed to buy an unspecified, but “very substantial” amount of agricultural, energy, industrial and other products,” it said, citing the White House.

On Sept 18, Trump was reported as saying that tariffs of 10 per cent will be imposed on imports worth US$200 billion, annually, a move that follows two previous rounds of 25 per cent tariff hike on shipments worth US$50 billion a year.

The tariff rate on the latest batch of goods will rise to 25 per cent on January 1, 2019.

Back home, heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM9.43, Tenaga added six sen to RM14.30, Public Bank fell four sen to RM24.88 and Petronas Chemicals was three sen lower at RM9.17.

Of actives, Bumi Armada gained 3.5 sen to 19.5 sen, My EG rose 11 sen to RM1.22, Genting Malaysia appreciated five sen to RM2.91 but Sapura Energy shed half-a-sen to 35 sen.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 154.05 points to 11,787.49, the FBM 70 improved 108.10 points to 13,650.01 and FBM Ace Index was 102.63 points higher at 4,867.06.

The FBM Emas Index advanced 131.92 points to 11,736.26 and the FBMT 100 Index edged up 125.46 points to 11,605.51.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index jumped 94.49 points to 6,947.76, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.33 of-a-point better at 170.76 and the Financial Services Index increased 116.96 points to 17,486.18.

Main Market volume decreased to 1.86 billion shares, worth RM2.13 billion, from Fridays 2.53 billion shares valued at RM4.43 billion.

Warrants turnover rose to 441.26 million units, worth RM106.46 million, from 326.21 million units, valued at RM72.95 million, registered previously.

Volume on the ACE Market improved to 219.12 million shares, valued at RM56.53 million, compared with 203.86 million shares worth RM43.55 million traded on Friday.

Consumer products and services accounted for 306.58 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (290.36 million), construction (170.04 million), technology (217.21 million), SPAC (25,000), financial services (58.13 million), property (100.29 million), plantations (33.80 million), REITs (5.19 million), closed/fund (14,900), energy (530.49 million), healthcare (26.82 million), telecommunication and media (48.76 million), transportation and logistics (38.38 million ), and utilities (30.69 million).

For further information on stocks and prices, please v is itwww. bursa malaysia. com.