Bursa M’sia ends higher, bucking regional markets’ downtrend

KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur stock market ended on a positive note yesterday, propelled by buys in telecommunication (telco), technology and ACE Market counters, dealers said.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) bucked the downtrend in regional markets, closing 9.09 points higher at 1,584.93, compared to 1,575.84 at Thursday’s close.

The index opened 4.34 points higher at 1,580.18 and moved between 1,573.84 and 1,584.93 throughout the day.

On the broader market, however, losers edged past gainers 653 to 581, while 411 counters were unchanged, 531 untraded and 10 others suspended. Total volume was easier at 14.36 billion units worth RM6.36 billion, compared with 14.49 billion units worth RM6.73 billion Thursday.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei trimmed 1.24 per cent to 29,860.79, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng decreased 0.85 per cent to 30,335.51 and Singapore’s STI was down 0.94 per cent to 2,881.51.

On the domestic front, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said telecommunication stocks (telco) were the investors’ favourite on Friday, with major telco players such as Maxis, Axiata and Digi recording gains following the government’s unveiling of MyDIGITAL and the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint.

Maxis and Axiata gained eight sen each to RM4.75 and RM3.37, respectively, Digi improved three sen to RM3.74 and Telekom Malaysia added four sen to RM6.48.

“Telekom Malaysia also rose higher on Friday following its appointment as the only homebased cloud service provider – alongside Microso , Google and Amazon – for the MyDigital initiative.

“As such, it was no surprise that the Bursa Malaysia Telecommunications and Media Index was the biggest gainer, se ling nearly 4.0 per cent higher for the day,” he noted, adding that the Bursa Malaysia Technology Index also followed suit, rising by 1.3 per cent.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose 10 sen to RM8.03, Tenaga improved three sen to RM9.88, while Public Bank and PChem gained two sen each to RM4.13 and RM7.49, respectively.

Meanwhile, Top Glove eased two sen to RM6.05.

Of the actives, Dagang Nexchange trimmed eight sen to 69 sen, Key Asic improved 3.5 sen to 14.5 sen and Managepay added three sen to 24 sen, while EA Holdings and Iris Corporation were both half-a-sen higher at 4.5 sen and 38.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 71.65 points to 11,641.61, the FBMT 100 Index increased 72.63 points to 11,320.34, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 62.77 points higher at 13,119.09. — Bernama