Bursa Malaysia ends at day’s high amid gains on Wall Street

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa-Malaysia ended firmly at yesterday’s high as regional markets were li ed by upbeat US corporate earnings and on hopes of a Brexit deal breakthrough, said a dealer.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.67 points to 1,574.90 from Tuesday’s close of 1,566.23.

The index, which opened 1.87 points be er at 1,568.10, moved between 1,567.87 and 1,574.90 throughout the day. Market breadth was positive as gainers led losers 458 to 426 with 378 counters unchanged, 714 untraded and 14 others suspended. Turnover surged to 3.06 billion shares worth RM2.23 billion from 2.62 billion shares worth RM1.73 billion on Tuesday.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.20 per cent to 22,472.92, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index improved 0.61 per cent to 26,664.28, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.71 per cent to 2,082.83, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.66 per cent to 3,136.42.

Philip Capital Management senior vice-president (investment) Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the FBM KLCI was higher following the bullish performance on Wall Street and in response to the optimism post-2020 Budget.

He said global markets were also optimistic on a smooth UK Brexit, reduced Middle East political tensions and a small breakthrough in the US-China trade deal.

“With 2020 Budget done and dusted, we expect it to drive the domestic market higher as there are more positive surprises than negatives. We deem the key winners from the budget are the technology sectors and property sectors,” he told Bernama.

Overall, improving internal and external sentiment would be crucial to aid further upside traction on the domestic market, he said. The local market was also expected to have a stronger trading momentum ahead as the government outlined special incentive packages to a ract Fortune 500 companies with the intent of supporting and boosting the capabilities of local small and medium enterprises, he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank edged up one sen to RM8.52, Tenaga gained six sen to RM13.76, Petronas Chemicals bagged two sen to RM7.31 and IHH Healthcare rose seven sen to RM5.70. Public Bank was flat at RM19.26.

Of the most actives, I-Stone added two sen to 24.5 sen, MTAG Group climbed 3.5 sen to 47.5 sen and KNM Group eased half-a-sen to 44 sen while Sapura Energy and NetX Holdings were flat at 27 sen and two sen, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index increased 60.61 points to 11,216.85, the FBMT 100 Index added 63.98 points to 11,032.80 and the FBM 70 surged 95.32 points to 14,164.66. — Bernama