KL shares close higher on bargain hunting

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia closed higher today on bargain hunting in selected finance heavyweights, dealers said.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) closed 5.06 points higher at 1,819.1, after moving between 1,812.18 and 1,823.19 throughout the day.

A dealer said window dressing activities in selected index-linked counters, especially finance, helped to lift the FBM KLCI but further upside was capped by cautious sentiment amid weak regional stock markets.

“Asian stocks took a breather today following declines on Wall Street after a rise in US inflation,” he said.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 22.71 points to 12,469.59, the FBMT100 Index increased 19.54 points to 12,165.11 and the FBM Ace jumped 78.6 points to 6,975.15.

The FBM Emas Syariah Index gave up 3.579 points to 13,058.98 and the FBM 70 erased 33.91 points to 13,319.83.

On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index was up 9.02 points to 3,346.84, the Plantation Index expanded 12.39 points to 7,807.83 and the Finance Index jumped 76.46 points to 16,080.99.

Gainers edged losers 449 to 391 with 298 counters unchanged, 632 untraded and 12 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 2.03 billion units worth RM2.12 billion from 1.9 billion shares worth RM1.83 billion on Tuesday.

Among heavyweights, Maybank gained six sen to RM9.21, TNB earned four sen to RM14.50 and Public Bank garnered 14 sen to RM18.56.

Axiata slipped one sen to RM7.06 and Sime Darby lost four sen to RM9.26.

Of the actively-traded stocks, Genetec and Privasia gained 3.5 sen each to 22.5 sen and 37.5 sen respectively while Managepay added 1.5 sen to 27.5 sen.

Asia Bioenergy and MQ Technology were flat at 11 sen and 17 sen respectively.

Main Market volume decreased to 1.1 billion shares worth RM1.91 billion from 1.3 billion shares worth RM1.63 billion on Tuesday.

Turnover on the ACE Market rose to 833.67 million shares valued at RM188.56 million from 787.54 million shares valued at RM145.61 million yesterday.

Warrants contracted to 103.96 million units worth RM19.64 million from 124.57 million units worth RM49.18 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 136.09 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products ( 178.63 million), construction ( 39.11 million), trade and services ( 423.89 million), technology ( 94.94 million), infrastructure ( 14.18 million), SPAC ( 46.71 million), finance (52.88 million), hotels (5.95 million), properties (79.03 million), plantations (19.92 million), mining (103,000), REITs (8.81 million) and closed/fund (nil). — Bernama