Bursa Malaysia finishes at intra-day high

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia settled at an intra-day high yesterday, lifted by last-minute buying in selected heavyweights, particularly in trade and services, as well as, finance-related stocks, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) finished 12.76 points firmer at 1,810.87 after trading as low as at 1,799.57 during the session.

The index opened 3.49 points firmer at 1,801.60 from Tuesday’s close of 1,798.11.

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries were closed on Wednesday for the Aidiladha celebration.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 485 to 419 with 430 counters unchanged, 564 untraded and 43 others suspended.

Volume, however, eased to 2.25 billion units worth RM2.46 billion from Tuesday’s 2.52 billion units worth RM2.43 billion.

Among higher trade and services-related stocks, Axiata rose 13 sen to RM4.62, Genting Malaysia edged three sen higher to RM5.13 and Petronas Dagangan put on 16 sen to RM26.80.

As for finance-related stocks, Public Bank improved 64 sen to RM25.32, CIMB perked five sen to RM5.94, RHB Bank expanded 11 sen to RM5.21, and Hong Leong Financial bagged 24 sen to RM18.34.

The dealers said Bursa Malaysia ignored Wall Street’s mixed overnight close, which was affected by quite a lot of negative news surrounding US President Donald Trump administration, sending ripples across the market.

The exchange performed broadly in line with some regional peers following higher overnight crude oil prices.

Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times index increased 1.67 per cent to 3,253.30, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 0.49 per cent to 27,790.46, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.22 per cent to 22,410.82, China’s SSE Composite Index gained 0.37 per cent to 2,724.62, and South Korea’s Kospi bagged 0.14 per cent to 2,282.60.

A dealer said sustained buying interest was seen in the local bourse as the index clawed back higher by 7.79 points in the last 10 minutes before the market closed.

“Although the local market is seen trading higher, swift highvolume countermove is needed to negate the bearish-bias outlook which could offer a slight opportunity to climb up further,” he said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank erased one sen to RM9.81, Petronas Chemicals eased three sen to RM9.35, while TNB was flat at RM15.74.

Of the actives, MY EG bagged eight sen to RM1.39, Sapura Energy gained half-a-sen to 59.5 sen and Hibiscus rose four sen to RM1.02.

The FBM Emas Index was 91.26 points higher at 12,791.41, the FBMT 100 Index increased 94.33 points to 12,573.85 and the FBM 70 soared 138.30 points to 15,590.41.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 61.09 points to 12,940.50, but the FBM Ace Index fell 48.35 points to 5,499.57.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 229.00 points to 17,716.66, the Industrial Index slightly increased 0.01 of-a-point to 3,265.69 and the Plantation Index surged 68.96 points to 7,672.36.

Main Market volume slid to 1.49 billion shares worth RM2.26 billion from Tuesday’s 1.74 billion shares worth RM2.21 billion.

Warrants turnover shed to 400.93 million units valued at RM102.87 million against 416.82 million units valued at RM115.78 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market contracted to 353.34 million shares valued at RM99.25 million versus Tuesday’s 366.20 million shares valued at RM105.36 million.

Consumer products accounted for 101.92 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (320.14 million), construction (81.13 million), trade and services ( 661.16 million), technology (112.92 million), infrastructure (10.25 million), SPAC (93,,000), finance (57.99 million), hotels (820,200 million), properties (107.71 million), plantations (34.50 million), mining (48,500), REITs (4.95 million), and closed/ fund (12,000).

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