Bursa Malaysia ends marginally higher in volatile trading

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed marginally higher in volatile trading yesterday, on continued buying momentum in selected heavyweights, mainly in finance-linked stocks led by Maybank, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.09 per cent or 1.58 points firmer at 1,686.55 from Tuesday’s close of 1,684.97 after opening 0.83 of-a-point higher at 1,685.80.

The FBM KLCI’s movement was flat at the 1,684-level for five minutes during the last 15 minutes of trading, before rising to 1,686.55 and thereafter remained stagnant for the last 10 minutes until the trading session ended.

The index moved between 1,678.48 and 1,688.71 throughout the trading session.

On the broader market, losers edged gainers 405 to 401, while 373 counters were unchanged, 735 untraded and 73 others suspended.

Volume shrank to 1.66 billion units valued at RM2.11 billion from 2.17 billion units worth RM2.61 billion on Tuesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd Head of Research Kenny Yee said investors sentiment had improved following the higher overnight close on Wall Street with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 108.5 points to 24,748.73 as well as the rebound in crude oil prices.

“The local stock market was also tracking its regional peers which mostly turned green as well,” he told Bernama.

Besides that, Yee said that investors were also hoping that the meeting between US President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping later this week during the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires would result in a good deal.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added three sen to RM9.43, Public Bank rose eight sen to RM24.88, CIMB climbed five sen to RM5.75 and Hong Leong Bank improved two sen to RM20.68.

Tenaga, which is among the top losers, erased 46 sen to RM14.26 while Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM9.26.

Of actives, Genting Malaysia and Tatt Giap were both flat at RM3.00 and 23 sen respectively, while Sanichi fell half-a-sen to 16.5 sen.

Top loser, Petronas Dagangan shed 64 sen to RM26.46 and KESM declined 28 sen to RM8.22.

As for top gainers, Nestle bagged RM1.70 sen to RM146.20, BAT added RM1.10 to RM37.70 and IHH Healthcare rose 33 sen to RM5.25.

The FBM Emas Index was up 13.95 points to 11,686.42, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 15.55 points to 11,548.27 and the FBM 70 rose 36.69 points to 13,709.57.

The FBM Ace Index was 6.33 points lower at 4,889.17 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 24.32 points to 11,719.30.

Sector- wise, the Financial Services Index was 62.82 points higher at 17,386.18, but the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.04 of-a-point to 171.65 and the Plantation Index dipped 50.32 points to 6,946.08.

Main Market volume fell to 1.11 billion shares worth RM1.98 billion from 1.43 billion shares worth RM2.47 billion on Tuesday.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 341.71 million units valued at RM80.45 million versus 450.53 million units valued at RM92.81 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market decreased to 206.78 million shares worth RM46.35 million compared with 293.00 million shares worth RM45.71 million on Tuesday.

Consumer products and services accounted for 262.39 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services ( 235.30 million), construction (83.31 million), technology (115.97 million), SPAC (6,300), financial services (36.80 million), property (59.19 million), plantations (36.73 million), REITs (4.90 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (156.92 million), healthcare (33.59 million), telecommunication and media (41.17 million), transportation and logistics (18.26 million), and utilities (30.22 million).

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