Bursa Malaysia ends higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia, which recorded losses earlier in the day, received a late boost from banking stocks to end in positive territory yesterday, dealers said.

At the closing bell, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) rose 4.33 points to close at 1,710.71 compared with last Friday’s close of 1,706.38.

The index, which opened 6.43 points stronger at 1,712.81, moved between 1,698.51 and 1,712.97, amid volatile trading.

Banking heavyweights, Public Bank rose 38 sen to RM25, CIMB improved eight sen to RM5.73, Maybank expanded five sen to RM9.50 and Hong Leong Financial advanced 24 sen to RM19.62, helped to contribute a total of 5.503 points to the gains in the FBM KLCI.

The market opened higher to track Wall Street’s bullish run last Friday, but turned easier at mid-morning and the weaker momentum continued until midafternoon, before mild buying support emerged to reverse and boost the momentum in the last 30 minutes of trading.

A dealer said overall, local equities managed to do a trend reversal with quite a modest close yesterday.

“The immediate trend for the FBM KLCI is still up at the moment as it is still trading at above its uptrend line of 1,710.

“However, most investors are still cautious over the external sentiment, particularly the trade tensions between the US and China, as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum concluded over the weekend without agreement on trade issues,” the dealer said.

Market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers 428 to 365, while 369 counters were unchanged, 718 untraded and 31 others suspended.

Volume however declined to 1.58 billion units worth RM1.56 billion versus 1.84 billion units worth RM1.88 bi l lion last Friday.

Of the heavyweights, TNB eased four sen to RM14.86, Petronas Chemicals slid nine sen to RM9.31 while Maxis rose one sen to RM5.41 and IHH Healthcare gained seven sen to RM4.81.

Among actives, TATT Giap was flat at 23.5 sen, MYEG increased two sen to RM1.15 and OCK Group edged up six sen to 47 sen.

Nestle was the top gainer, putting on 80 sen to RM147.80, followed by Allianz Malaysia which bagged 44 sen to RM12.28.

The FBM Emas Index climbed 30.90 points to 11,898.96, the FBMT 100 Index gained 32.15 points to 11,739.50 and the FBM 70 surged 48.08 points to 14,036.78.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 1.74 points to 11,954.06 but the FBM Ace Index was 29.96 points better at 4,975.08.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index soared 149.68 points to 17,451.35, the Industrial Products and Services was flat at 174.01 and the Plantation Index was 5.37 points easier at 7,251.27.

Main Market volume narrowed to 948.63 million shares worth RM1.40 billion from 1.15 billion shares worth RM1.71 billion last Friday.

Warrants turnover decreased to 362.52 million units valued at RM90.40 million versus 381.46 million units valued at RM98.67 million.

Volume on the ACE Market slipped to 272.18 million shares worth RM71.52 million compared with 309.81 million shares worth RM75.83 million.

For further information on stocks and prices , please vi s i t www. bursamalaysia.com.