KL shares end broadly higher, CI above 1,500-level

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded from Wednesday’s losses to close broadly higher yesterday, with the benchmark index breaching and staying above the 1,500psychological level amid positive market sentiment across the region.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 13.23 points to end the day at its intradayhigh of 1,505.56 compared with Wednesday’s close of 1,492.33, driven by continuous buying momentum in selected indexlinked counters led by Press Metal. The benchmark index opened 5.48 points better at 1,497.81 yesterday morning and remained in positive territory throughout the session.

Banking stocks were mostly upbeat, including CIMB, Maybank, Hong Leong Financial Group, Hong Leong Bank, Public Bank, and RHB Bank following slower-than-expected inflation data in the United States which might provide some space for the Federal Reserve not to hike rates aggressively.

The broader market was bullish as gainers overwhelmed losers 628 to 260, while 379 counters were unchanged, 1,016 untraded, and 12 others suspended.

Total turnover increased to 2.55 billion units worth RM1.97 billion from 2.17 billion units worth RM1.68 billion Wednesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the strong performance in Malaysian equities was in sync with regional bourses which were mostly higher following the positive cues from the overnight gains on Wall Street.

“As for the local bourse, we are cautiously optimistic given the improvement in the local market sentiment and foreign support.

“We expect the market uptrend to continue towards the weekend with the FBM KLCI hovering within the 1,500-1,515 region, with immediate resistance at 1,510 followed by 1,530, and support at 1,480,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, a dealer said risk appetite in the market was also fuelled by the anticipation of a bullish second-quarter (Q2) gross domestic product (GDP) growth, to be announced by Bank Negara Malaysia today (Friday).

Analysts reckoned that Malaysia is likely to report a stronger GDP growth – at between 5.5 and 6.5 per cent – in Q2 following a stronger-thanexpected jump in the Industrial Production Index in June 2022 of 12.1 per cent.

Among heavyweights, twothirds of the 30-index linked counters recorded gains today led by Press Metal which rose by 4.04 per cent or 19 sen to RM4.89 with 12.17 million shares changing hands, making it the largest contributor to the rise in the composite index with 2.672 points.