Up on persistent buying

BURSA Malaysia rebounded from Monday’s losses to close firmer yesterday, lifted by persistent buying momentum in selected blue chips and small-capitalised stocks, dealers said.

The FBM KLCI settled at its intra-day high of 1,677.56, up 13.49 points.

Market breadth was positive as gainers thumped losers 521 to 357 while 339 counters were unchanged, 570 untraded and 15 suspended.

Maybank Investment Bank regional chartist Lee Cheng Hooi said the market’s good performance was aided by positive sentiment brought about by the overnight gains on Wall Street. It was also due to some bargain hunting on selected stocks.

The rally, which was in tandem with Asian capital markets, was fuelled by the release of US and Europe’s manufacturing data that soothed worries over the global growth outlook, Lee said.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank rose 4 sen each to RM8.31 and RM18.12 respectively, Axiata added 1 sen to RM6.14 and IHH Healthcare perked 9 sen to RM6.52. TNB, however, was flat at RM12.66. – Bernama