FBM KLCI climbs up 0.17 pct at the close

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia’s key index ended slightly higher as bargainhunting activities emerged after seven straight days of losses, lifted mainly by telco, gaming, and banking stocks.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 2.55 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 1,530.44, from Monday’s close of 1,527.89.

The index, which opened 3.18 points weaker at 1,524.71, moved between 1,521.44 and 1,533.11 throughout the day.

However, market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering gainers 538 to 436, while 468 counters were unchanged, 830 untraded, and five others suspended.

Turnover rose to 4.72 billion units worth RM2.86 billion from Monday’s 4.69 billion units worth RM2.9 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of equity research Thong Pak Leng said that comparatively, regional markets ended mixed as investors remained cautious due to China property company Evergrande’s debt crisis.

“Moreover, uncertainty over the United States’ Covid-19 stimulus also weighs on the market sentiment.

“We reckon trading on the local bourse to be tepid amid the heightened market volatility, hence we expect the index to trend within the 1,520-1,550 range for the remainder of the week,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank appreciated three sen to RM8.33, Axiata surged 15 sen to RM4.10, Genting Malaysia gained four sen to RM3.05, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals added one sen each to RM4.03 and RM7.96, respectively, while IHH Healthcare eased five sen to RM6.60, CIMB fell two sen to RM4.78 and Press Metal eased six sen to RM5.59.

Of the actives, Serba Dinamik bagged five sen to 36.5 sen, Dagang Nexchange edged up half-a-sen to 76.5 sen, KNM was flat at 25 sen, Fintec inched down half-a-sen to two sen and Pasukhas went down 1.5 sen to 7.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 16.78 points to 11,222.40, the FBMT 100 Index was 20.22 points higher at 10,931.78, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index chalked up 16.44 points to 12,197.88.

The FBM 70 rose 35.35 points to 14,837.50, while FBM ACE weakened by 10.99 points to 6,995.62.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index went up 43.55 points to 6,284.82, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.17 of-a-point to 196.48, and the Financial Services Index improved 19.80 points to 15,254.20.

The Main Market volume decreased to 2.95 billion shares worth RM2.54 billion against 3.01 billion shares worth RM2.5 billion on Monday.