Bursa Malaysia ends higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rallied yesterday to close almost at its intra-day high, as translated in exports due to the gradual reopening of economic sectors.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) rose 21.85 points or 1.44 per cent to end the day at 1,536.28 from Wednesday’s close of 1,514.43.

The index opened 0.35 point stronger at 1,514.78 and moved between 1,513.21 and 1,536.36 during the day.

Overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 701 to 334, while 403 counters were unchanged, 476 untraded and 22 others suspended.

Total volume decreased to 5.9 billion shares worth RM4.02 billion from Wednesday’s 7.33 billion shares worth RM3.6 billion.

MIDF Amanah said in a note yesterday: “Given that approximately 80 per cent of our exports are manufactured goods, with the Movement Control Order being lifted in stages, allowing more businesses to resume operations, we foresee June’s improved performance as the beginning of the recovery phase post-pandemic.”

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei increased 0.08 per cent to 22,138.61, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index escalated 1.43 per cent to 24,776.66 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index improved 0.87 per cent to 2,632.86.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose 10 sen to RM7.62, Tenaga added six sen to RM11.56, Public Bank climbed 42 sen to RM16.94, Hartalega enlarged 22 sen to RM15.00 and Petronas Chemicals gained 30 sen to RM6.55.

Of the most active, AT Systematization broadened half-a-sen to 10.5 sen while its warrant was flat at 4.5 sen, Iris Corp grew half-a-sen to 19.5 sen, PDZ accrued two sen to seven sen, while VSolar eased half-asen to eight sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index intensified 142.73 points to 10,795.78 the FBMT 100 Index surged 141.05 points to 10,650.36 and the FBM 70 magnified 133.1 points to 13,204.15.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 131.94 points higher at 12,326.49 and the FBM ACE jumped 201.61 points to 6,600.76.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 3.19 points to 137.77, the Financial Services Index augmented 204.6 points to 12,959.11 and the Plantation Index extended 76.73 points to 6,829.13.

Main Market volume narrowed to 2.98 billion shares worth RM3.34 billion from 7.33 billion shares worth RM3.6 billion on Wednesday.

Warrants turnover inflated to 615.89 million units valued at RM189.26 million versus 456.47 million units valued at RM130.21 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market declined to 2.3 billion shares worth RM489.32 million from 3.51 billion shares worth RM708.7 million previously.