Banks, consumer stocks lift Bursa Malaysia firmer

to RM47.00, while Fraser & Neave gained 18 sen to RM24.08.

A dealer said investors accumulated selected attractive stocks amid a defensive stance on the back of mixed sentiment on the global market.

He said bargain hunting for consumers and selected blue chips, which are now cheaper to buy given the recent sell-off due to the geopolitical tension in Syria, also emerged to support the performance and bucked the trend on some regional markets’ trend.

On other regional bourses, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index trimmed 0.21 per cent to 24,261.66, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.98 per cent to 3,138.30 and Jakarta’s Composite Index declined 0.7 per cent to 5,577.49.

However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased 0.11 per cent to 18,355.26 and Korea’s KOSPI Index rose 0.51 per cent to 2,145.76.

Etiqa Insurance and Takaful, Head of Research Chris Eng told Bernama, demand on the local bourse was also partly influenced by the better-than-expected economic data from China, which helped ease worries over the health of the world’s second largest economy.

Overall market breadth was positive with gainers thumping losers 456 to 397, while 381 counters were unchanged, 509 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Volume declined to 2.89 billion units valued at RM1.78 billion, from last Friday’s 3.15 billion units worth RM1.86 billion

The FBM Emas Index rose 26.47 points to 12,334.6, the FBMT100 Index improved 24.43 points to 11,972.55 and the FBM 70 chalked up 45.27 points to 14,540.56.

The FBM Ace advanced 48.39 points to 6,050.01 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 22.6 points to 12,782.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index surged 86.61 points to 15,651.32, the Plantation Index perked 12.12 points to 7,926.15 and the Industrial Index inched up 0.59 of a point to 3,237.75.

Of the heavyweights, Sime Darby and Maxis added one sen each to RM9.28 and RM6.43 respectively, but Petronas Chemicals slipped one sen to RM7.59.

Tenaga, however, was flat at RM13.70.

Among actives, Key Alliance gained one sen to 8.5 sen, but Borneo Oil was flat at 19 sen.

Bursa Malaysia Securities has issued an Unusual Market Activity query to Anzo Holdings Bhd due to the sharp fall in the company’s share price and rise in volume recently.

Anzo was last traded at 36 sen with 127.64 million shares changing hands.

Main Market turnover declined to 2.09 billion units valued at RM1.67 billion from last Friday’s 2.19 billion units worth RM1.71 billion.

Volume on the ACE Market contracted to 660.85 million shares valued at RM95.73 million from 777.62 million shares worth RM127.05 million.

Warrants declined to 106.3 million units valued at RM11.57 million from 165.75 million units worth RM17.39 million.

Consumer products accounted for 109.27 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (501.08 million), construction (138.06 million), trade and services (692.28 million), technology (103.2 million), infrastructure (3.18 million), SPAC (4.0 million), finance (56.67 million), hotels (4.26 million), properties ( 423.43 million), plantations (51.27 million), mining (nil), REITs (6.09 million) and closed/fund (64,000).

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