Bursa Malaysia ends higher on gains in heavyweights

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher yesterday on persistent buying support in most heavyweights.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.55 points to end at 1,677.76 from yesterday’s close of 1,675.21.

After opening 0.43 of- a-point higher at 1,675.64 yesterday, the local index moved between 1,673.44 and 1,682.74 throughout the day.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers by 539 to 298, with 347 counters unchanged, 549 untraded and 27 others were suspended.

Volume decreased to 2.53 billion shares worth RM2.19 billion from 2.75 billion shares worth RM2.02 billion yesterday.

A dealer said the bullish FBM KLCI was in line with the performance of other South- East Asian stocks following US presidentelect Donald Trump’s press conference, which did not provide clarity on the giant economy’s fiscal policy.

“This led to a weaker US dollar and lower bond yields, which in turn, shifted investors’ focus towards emerging markets,” he added.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.31, while TNB, Public Bank and Sime Darby were flat at RM14, RM20.06 and RM8.50 respectively.

On actives, IFCA MSC added 4.5 sen to 41 sen, SKH Consortium rose 1.5 sen to 7.5 sen and Hibiscus Petroleum gained three sen to 53 sen.

The FBM Emas Index surged 32.35 points to 11,751.47, FBMT 100 Index rose 29.5 points to 11,455.11 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 16.93 points better at 12,261.89.

The FBM Ace improved 46.46 points to 5,170.11 and the FBM 70 was 80.85 points higher at 13,423.38.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index gained 17.69 points to 3,192.59, Finance Index added 42.21 points to 14,784.93 and the Plantation Index gained 16.33 points at 7,927.05. Main Market turnover decreased to 1.53 billion units worth RM2.01 billion from 1.86 billion units worth RM1.86 billion on Wednesday.

ACE Market volume rose to 784.76 million shares valued at RM146.27 million from 722.9 million shares valued at RM131.02 million yesterday.

Warrants improved to 218.63 million units worth RM34.55 million from 156.7 million units worth RM25.64 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 116.83 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products ( 377.71 million), construction (74.44 million), trade and services ( 577.21 million), technology (141.6 million), infrastructure (10.32 million), SPAC ( 8.06 million), finance (105.47 million), hotels ( 909,400), properties (83.74 million), plantations (23.275 million), mining (16,900), REITs (13.01 million) and closed/ fund (16,000).