Bursa Malaysia ends higher on increased demand

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher on increased demand yesterday after immersing in the red throughout the day, due to profit-taking activities, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) closed 2.81 points higher at 1,864.03 from 1,861.22 on Monday’s close.

After opening 6.14 points weaker at 1,855.08 this morning, the index hovered between 1,853.97 and 1,864.31 throughout the day.

Public Investment Bank Bhd, in a note, said the local bourse would display a flat performance yesterday after a mixed overnight performance on Wall Street, in line with mixed regional equity exchanges.

Market breadth, however, was negative as losers led gainers 511 to 402 with 423 counters unchanged, 540 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Volume declined to 2.29 billion units worth RM2.08 billion from 2.46 billion units worth RM2.4 billion on Monday.

Among heav ywei ght s , Maybank, Tenaga and IHH Healthcare were f lat at RM10.44, RM15.62 and RM6.09, respectively, while Public Bank increased 34 sen to RM23.00 and Petronas Chemicals appreciated seven sen to RM8.15.

Meanwhile, CIMB declined two sen to RM7.25 and Maxis was nine sen weaker at RM5.89.

Of active counters, QES Group, Nexgram and PUC Bhd were flat at 21.5 sen, five sen and 22 sen, respectively.

Meanwhi le, Karambunai rose half- a- sen to 7.5 sen, Euro Holdings increased 2.5 sen to 35 sen, but Sapura Energy declined 1.5 sen to 45 sen.

The FBM Emas Index increased 7.26 points to 13,118.13, the FBMT 100 Index was 9.63 points better at 12,864.81 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 18.53 points to 13,312.73.

The FBM 70 declined 21.63 points to 15,660.87 but the FBM Ace edged up 11.48 points to 5,991.53.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index improved 21.44 points to 3,258.47, the Plantation Index gained 16.91 points to 8,105.11 and the Finance Index was 43.53 points better at 18,154.1.

Main Market volume increased to 1.43 billion units worth RM1.93 billion from 1.37 billion units worth RM2.24 billion on Monday.

Volume on the ACE Market decreased to 533.66 million shares valued at RM99.79 million shares from 708.45 million shares valued at RM97.61 million.

Warrants’ volume declined to 305 million worth RM48.29 million from 382.52 million worth RM56.6 million.

Consumer products accounted for 100.09 mi l l ion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products ( 435.86 million), construction ( 85.89 million), trade and services ( 513 million), technology (48.88 million), infrastructure ( 3.53 million), SPAC (1.9 million), finance (43.24 million), hotels ( 2.2 million), properties (173.7 mi l lion), plantations ( 17.4 mi l lion), mining ( 116,100), REITs ( 6.69 million), and closed/ fund (10,100).

For further information on stocks and prices, please visit www.bursamalaysia.com.