Bursa Malaysia ends at intra-day high

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished higher yesterday with the benchmark index ending at its intra-day high, lifted by last-minute buying in industrial production and plantation stocks led by Petronas Gas and IHH Healthcare, dealers said.

At 5pm, the market bellwether FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was firmer at 1,798.11, up 10.53 points or 0.59 per cent, after moving between 1,788.86 and 1,798.11 during the session.

The index opened 2.67 points firmer at 1,790.25 from Tuesday’s close of 1,787.58.

However, market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 549 to 378, while 397 counters were unchanged, 574 untraded and 43 others suspended.

Volume improved to 2.52 billion units worth RM2.43 billion, from 2.29 billion units worth RM2.05 billion.

Inter-Pacific Securities head of research Pong Teng Siew said Asian bourses were mostly higher yesterday, benefiting from the strong finish on Wall Street overnight, on hopes that progress would be made to resolve the contentious trade dispute between the US and China.

Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times index decreased 0.15 per cent to 3,199.89, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.56 per cent to 27,752.79, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.09 per cent to 22,219.73, China’s SSE Composite Index gained 1.31 per cent to 2,733.82 and South Korea’s Kospi increased 0.99 per cent to 2,270.06.

“Traders are closely watching for any progress on ending the trade tensions between the two countries.

“Back home, we can see oil and gas stocks continuing to climb, thanks to firmer oil prices, which also helped to drive interest in oil and gas penny stocks,” he said.

Pong said that the FBM KLCI was expected to be on a upward momentum throughout this week, backed by rising global oil prices on supply concerns.

Among the top gainers, Petronas Gas and Panasonic soared 84 sen each to RM19.00 and RM40.86 respectively, Allianz advanced 50 sen to RM13.10, BAT rose 46 sen to RM36.46 and United Plantation surged 44 sen to RM27.26.

For heavyweights, Maybank perked three sen to RM9.82, Public Bank improved 18 sen to RM24.68, IHH Healthcare added 10 sen to RM5.62, TNB rose six sen to RM15.74 and CIMB bagged one sen to RM5.89.

Petronas Chemicals fell six sen to RM9.38.

Among active counters, MY EG gained eight sen to RM1.31, Borneo Oil increased half-a-sen to six sen while PriceWorth was flat at seven sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 54.88 points higher at 12,700.15, the FBMT 100 Index increased 63.17 points to 12,479.52 and the FBM 70 climbed 41.10 points to 15,452.11.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 61.51 points to 12,879.41, but the FBM Ace Index fell 25.40 points to 5,547.92.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 87.73 points to 17,487.66 and the Industrial Index improved 39.87 points to 3,265.68 and the Plantation Index put on 39.23 points to 7,603.40.

Main Market volume improved to 1.74 billion shares worth RM2.21 billion, from Tuesday’s 1.51 billion shares worth RM1.84 billion.

Warrants turnover slid to 416.82 million units valued at RM115.78 million, against 482.73 million units valued at RM133.02 million recorded previously.

Volume on the ACE Market swelled to 366.20 million shares valued at RM105.36 million, versus Monday’s 295.18 million shares valued at RM80.11 million.

Consumer products accounted for 113.89 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (357.77 million), construction (168.95 million), trade and services (687.02 million), technology (151.88 million), infrastructure (11.84 million), SPAC (113,000), finance (57.39 million), hotels (2.35 million), properties (158.60 million), plantations (23.65 million), mining (51,600), REITs (6.31 million), and closed/fund (8,000). For further information on stocks and prices, please visit www. bursamalaysia.com.