Bursa Malaysia rebounds to close higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded to close higher on mild buying interest in selected heavyweights and lower-liners, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 1.96 points firmer at 1,780.09 versus Thursday’s close of 1,778.13.

The index opened 4.61 points higher at 1,782.74 and moved between 1,773.89 and 1,782.77 throughout the day. On the broader market, gainers led losers by 480 to 327, with 437 counters unchanged, 640 untraded and 42 others were suspended.

Volume decreased to 1.84 billion units worth RM1.57 billion from Thursday’s 2.09 billion units valued at RM1.98 billion.

Hermana Capital Bhd chief executive officer and chief investment officer Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said trade tensions between the United States and China were subsiding as both parties were trying to restart negotiations, aimed at avoiding a full-blown trade war between the world’s largest economies.

“On the other hand, some investors were staying on the sidelines, monitoring US job data for July which is expected to be released later.

“The data is expected to suggest that the US economy is in best shape,” he told Bernama.

On the local front, Nazri Khan said the appointment of Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s new Managing Director Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan helped perk sentiment in the market.

Khazanah yesterday announced that Shahril, who is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), would report for duty on Aug 20.However, some Khazanah linked-counters saw mixed reaction. Tenaga rose 14 sen to RM15.42, CIMB fell six sen to RM5.79 while IHH was flat at RM5.90.

TM, which topped the losers list, depreciated 19 sen to RM3.68.

Of heavyweights, Maybank shed one sen to RM9.83, Public Bank lost two sen to RM24.16, Petronas Chemicals added two sen to RM9.03 while CIMB eased six sen to RM5.79.

Among actives, Iris gained one sen to 16.5 sen, MYEG was flat at RM1.17 while Nova MSC reduced half-a-sen to 18 sen.

Top gainers included United Plantations which rose RM1.08 to RM27.88, Nestle improved 40 sen to RM147.30 and Hong Leong Industries increased 40 sen to RM11.48.

The FBM Emas Index was 18.73 points higher at 12,600.48, the FBMT 100 Index rose 15.98 points to 12,387.65 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 28.56 point to 12,744.46.

The FBM 70 recovered 28.59 points to 15,462.37 and the FBM Ace Index was up 31.27 points to 5,446.04. Sector-wise, the Plantation Index improved 61.57 points to 7,623.39, the Industrial Index was 15.55 points better at 3,276.12 but the Finance Index eased 14.38 points to 17,440.46.

Main Market volume decreased to 1.02 billion shares, valued at RM1.41 billion, from 1.28 billion shares, valued at RM1.79 billion, recorded on Thursday.

Warrants turnover was lower at 327.89 million units, worth RM 91.92 million, versus Thursday’s 486.83 million units valued at RM128.93 million.

Volume on the ACE Market rose to 492.31 million shares, worth RM75.47 million against 315.51 million shares valued at RM63.35 million, transacted perviously.

Consumer products accounted for 47.65 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (174.75 million), construction (95.24 million), trade and services (456.82 million), technology (53.83 million), infrastructure (23.47 million), SPAC (nil), finance (26.04 million), hotels (1.3 million), properties (122.16 million), plantations (16.16 million), mining (7,300), REITs (8.68 million), and closed/fund (3,000).

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