Market ends higher in range-bound trading

BURSA Malaysia ended higher yesterday in tandem with regional peers and in line with the firmer Wall Street but trading remained cautious and range-bound, dealers said.

At close, the FBM KLCI was 1.31 points higher at 1,772.39 after moving between 1,768.76 and 1,773.66 throughout the day.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 523 to 329 with 366 counters unchanged, 632 untraded and 34 others were suspended.

Most Asian stocks extended their gains from the previous session, taking the cue from a firmer Wall Street, and bargain hunting activities after last Friday’s sell-off.

Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times index fell 0.43% to 3,294.94, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.28% to 27,174.96, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.66% to 2,334.22 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.11% to 19,753.31.

Among heavyweights, Tenaga and Sime Darby shed two sen each to RM14.20 and RM9.38 respectively, Petronas Chemicals bagged four sen to RM7.15 while Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB Group were flat at RM9.69, RM20.58 and RM6.78 respectively.

Of actives, MLabs Systems gained three sen to 20.5 sen, Anzo added 1.5 sen to 11 sen and Frontken improved one sen to 34.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index was up 23.71 points at 12,569.32, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 35.80 points to 12,702.74 and the FBMT 100 Index improved 20.31 points to 12,236.04. – Bernama