Bursa Malaysia ends marginally higher amid cautious market tone

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the day marginally higher on last-minute buying support amid cautious market tone.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) ended at 1,634.52 points, 0.22 ofa-point better from Monday’s close of 1,634.30, after moving in a narrow range of between 1,632.48 and 1,637.02 throughout the day.

The index opened 0.74 of-apoint lower at 1,633.56.

Market breadth was mixed as losers edged gainers 360 to 348 with 381 counters unchanged, 643 untraded and 25 suspended.

Volume decreased to 1.28 billion shares worth RM1.41 billion from 1.33 billion shares valued at RM1.35 billion yesterday.

A dealer said the local bourse saw a tight range trading yesterday, tracking its wary regional peers which were traded mixed.

Sentiment was affected by US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s comments that the US labour market had improved to its strongest in nearly a decade.

This strengthens the possibility of interest rates increases for next year.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.53 per cent to 19,494.53, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.47 per cent to 21,729.06 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.20 per cent to 2,907.96.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell one sen to RM7.91, TNB rose two sen to RM13.72, whilePublicBankandSimeDarby each shed two sen to RM19.72 and RM8.13, respectively.

Of the actives, Green Packet addedhalf-a-sento28sen, Hibiscus Petroleum slid half-a-sen to 38 sen while MQ Technology and RGB International were flat at 6.5 sen and 28.5 sen, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index added 1.29 points to 11,433.30 but the FBMT 100 Index eased 0.21 of-apoint to 11,155.22 and the FBM 70 fell 6.86 points at 13,054.12.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 30.11 points to 11,991.95 and the FBM Ace gained 32.51 points to 4,803.27.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index shed 25.39 points to 14,320.94, but the Plantation Index rose 19.06 points to 7,722.79 and the Industrial Index increased 7.11 points to 3,094.80.

Main Market turnover fell to 888.66 million units worth RM1.34 billion from 996.22 million units valued at RM1.29 billion recorded on Monday.

The ACE Market volume rose to 243.65 million shares worth RM36.22 million from 155.81 million shares valued at RM24.35 million previously.

Warrants fell to 152.51 million units worth RM32.23 million from 177.68 million units valued at RM36.70 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 94.37 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products ( 196.11 million), construction ( 64.67 million), trade and services ( 306.89 million), technology (111.37 million), infrastructure (9.08 million), SPAC (461,000), finance (34.36 million), hotels ( 75,500), properties ( 35.51 million), plantations ( 17.00 million), mining (5,000), REITs (18.40 million) and closed/fund (306,500). — Bernama