Late buying lifts Bursa Malaysia to end at intra-day high

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded to end at an intra-day high yesterday, lifted by last-minute buying in index-linked counters amid a mixed performance on regional bourses.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.84 point, or 0.05 per cent, firmer at 1,688.41 from Tuesday’s close of 1,687.57.

The index opened 1.88 points easier at 1,685.69 today and moved between 1,678.82 and 1,688.41 throughout the day.

However, market breadth remained negative, with losers outpacing gainers 564 to 314, while 295 counters were unchanged, 708 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Volume improved to 2.21 billion units worth RM1.91 billion from 2.03 billion units worth RM1.93 billion yesterday.

Commenting on Bursa’s performance, Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd analyst Danny Oh said the market remained cautious amid the weakening crude oil and crude palm oil prices.

He added that expectations of a faster US Federal Reserve’s interest rate increase in December also hampered investor sentiment towards emerging markets.

“A higher interest rate could prompt more investors to return to the US markets, hence, spark an outflow of capital from emerging markets which we can see the performance of the current US equity markets versus the rest of the world’s,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, markets were mixed with Japan’s Nikkei gaining 0.16 per cent to 21,846.48 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 0.34 per cent to 3,043.19 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 0.54 per cent lower at 25,654.43.

At the closing bell, Press Metal Aluminium and Maybank advanced 10 sen each to RM4.90 and RM9.29 respectively, Genting Malaysia inched up six sen to RM3.62, IHH Healthcare rose seven sen to RM4.61 and Hong Leong Financial was up 20 sen to RM18.90.

Of the actives, Hibiscus fell nine sen to RM1.01, Securemetric declined 4.5 sen to 49 sen, MyEG trimmed eight sen to RM1.18, Seacera went down 3.5 sen to 22.5 sen while Sapura Engergy was unchanged at 37 sen.

Nestlewasthetopgainer, bagging RM1.40 to RM145.00 while United Plantations led the losers list in declining 28 sen to RM26.60.

The FBM Emas Index perked 8.54 points to 11,710.62, the FBMT 100 Index increased 15.41 points to 11,555.79 and the FBM 70 accumulated 55.74 points to 13,698.38.

The FBM Ace Index was 7.04 points better at 4,92.54 but the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 13.09 points to 11,827.10.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index climbed 37.02 points to 17,087.36 but the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.33 point to 172.56 and the Plantation Index was down 6.10 points to 7,251.55.

Main Market volume widened to 1.48 billion shares worth RM1.72 billion from 1.15 billion shares worth RM1.69 billion on Tuesday.

Warrants turnover decreased to 359.28 million units valued at RM84.83 million versus 411.38 million units valued at RM102.88 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market was lower at 365.70 million shares worth RM104.49 million against 470.52 million shares worth RM141.06 million previously.

For further information on stocks and prices, pleasevisitwww.bursamalaysia. com.