KUALA LUMPUR, Bursa Malaysia shook off earlier losses to end at its intraday high today, lifted by late buying in selected telecommunications and media, as well as industrial products and services counters, dealers said.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.82 points or 0.39 per cent to 1,499.38, just a whisker below the 1,500 psychological level, from yesterday’s closing of 1,493.56.
The market bellwether opened 1.03 points weaker at 1,492.53 and hit a low of 1,488.95 in the early morning session.
Market breadth also turned positive with gainers surpassing losers 423 to 417, while 432 counters were unchanged, 920 untraded, and 18 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 2.82 billion units worth RM1.98 billion against Monday’s 3.92 billion units worth RM2.03 billion.
DiGi.Com and Petronas Chemicals were the top two gainers in FBM KLCI constituents, rising 13 sen and 12 sen to RM4.28 and RM8.62 respectively, contributing a combined 4.15 points to the gains in the index.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said regionally, the key indices were mostly lower amid heightened fears of a global recession this year, while mixed economic growth data from China also brewed more uncertainty over the timing of a recovery this year.
“Nonetheless, the republic’s economy still expanded at a better-than-expected pace during the fourth quarter of last year,” he told Bernama.
As for the local bourse, despite the cautious market undertone in the region, Thong expects bargain hunting to prevail given the cheap valuations of local stocks and persistent support from local institutions.
“We anticipate the FBM KLCI to break the 1,500 level very soon. After breaching this, the next resistance level is at 1,530,” he added.
Region-wise, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index inched down 0.78 per cent to 21,577.64, China’s SSE Composite Index slipped 0.10 per cent to 3,224.24, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.85 per cent to 2,379.39, Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined by 0.09 per cent to 3,280.51, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.23 per cent to 26,138.68.
Among other heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank were flat at RM8.78 and RM4.32, respectively, CIMB went up 1.0 sen to RM5.77, IHH Healthcare added 2.0 sen to RM5.99, while TNB slipped 3.0 sen to RM9.42.
As for the actives, newly-listed Kumpulan Kitacon rose 7.0 sen to 75 sen, Serba Dinamik perked up half-a-sen to 2.0 sen, DNeX improved 2.5 sen to 58.5 sen, Nationgate increased 4.0 sen to RM1.09, while Yew Lee Pacific climbed 5.0 sen to 46 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 30.58 points to 10,825.07, the FBMT 100 Index put on 32.05 points to 10,521.40, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 52.92 points firmer at 11,065.27.
The FBM 70 Index was 3.16 points better at 13,466.25 while the FBM ACE Index fell 16.74 points to 5,483.24.
Sector-wise, the Energy Index slipped 0.32 of-a-point to 820.57, the Technology Index eased 0.24 of-a-point to 66.64, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 1.71 points to 188.64, while the Financial Services Index shed 13 points to 16,546.32, and the Plantation Index gained 2.51 points to 6,901.84.
The Main Market volume declined to 1.87 billion shares worth RM1.54 billion compared with Monday’s 2.51 billion shares worth RM1.60 billion.
Warrants turnover slid to 246.50 million units worth RM49.65 million from 323.11 million units worth RM64.50 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 699.95 million shares worth RM382.15 million from 1.09 billion shares worth RM366.76 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 225.96 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (531.13 million); construction (203.69 million); technology (319.25 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (51.29 million); property (86.01 million); plantation (20.78 million); REITs (7.27 million), closed/fund (3,000); energy (281.55 million); healthcare (70.46 million); telecommunications and media (30.20 million); transportation and logistics (33.27 million); and utilities (10.58 million).
Source: BERNAMA News Agency