Last-minute buying helps Bursa Malaysia to close higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Last-minute buying helped Bursa Malaysia to close higher yesterday as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) decided to maintain interest rate to accommodate the economic environment, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 1.49 points to end at 1,666.51 compared with Wednesday’s close of 1,665.02.

After opening 1.88 points better at 1,666.9, the index.

Losers edged gainers by 446 to 331, with 367 counters unchanged, 597 untraded and 37 others suspended.

Volume decreased to 1.87 billion shares worth RM1.73 billion from 1.88 billion shares worth RM1.64 billion previously.

BNM, in its first Monetary Policy Committee statement this year, said it has maintained overnight policy rate at three per cent.

It said uncertainty and downside risks to global growth remained due to risks of protectionism, geopolitical developments and commodity price volatility.

The central bank said the latest indicators pointed to continued growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 and the economy was on track to expand as projected.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM8.25 and Public Bank and Sime Darby gained two sen each to RM20.10 and RM8.54 respectively.

TNB lost two sen to RM13.88 and Petronas Chemicals fell one sen to RM7.19.

For actives, Hubline and SKH climbed half-a-sen each to 10 sen and eight sen respectively.

Hibiscus Petroleum fell 3.5 sen to 46.5 sen and IFCA MSC and Green Packet slipped halfa-sen each to 43 sen and 26.5 sen respectively.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 6.69 points to 11,687.12, FBMT 100 Index increased 8.73 points to 11,391.24 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up 0.67 point to 12,172.88.

The FBM 70 added 4.73 points to 13,398.08.

Sector- wise, the Industrial Index increased 3.72 points to 3,143.25, Finance Index rose 3.85 points to 14,738.68 and the Plantation Index improved 6.38 points at 7,913.22.

Main Market turnover rose to 1.32 billion units worth RM1.63 billion from Wednesday’s 1.19 billion units worth RM1.52 billion.

ACEMarketvolumefellto381.62 million shares valued at RM66.79 million from Wednesday’s 475.64 million shares valued at RM88.80 million.

Warrants decreased to 163.54 million units worth RM25.27 million from 210.11 million units worth RM32.71 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 89.94 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products ( 315.97 million), construction ( 77.38 million), trade and services ( 530.05 million), technology (89.41 million), infrastructure ( 30.82 million), SPAC ( 2.41 million), finance (45.18 million), hotels (552,500), properties (84.53 million), plantations ( 26.50 million), mining ( nil), REITs (30.41 million), and closed/fund (nil). — Bernama