Bursa Malaysia up on buying support

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed higher today helped by the continued buying support in selected heavyweights, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.47 of a point better at 1,871.83, after moving between 1,869.39 and 1,873.7 throughout the day.
A dealer said most Asian stock markets were higher today as anxiety over the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight eased and investors shifted their focus to the US corporate earnings.
"The markets have been roiled the past week by heightened tensions between Russia and the West after an MAS MH17 flight was shot down over eastern Ukraine. The tensions, however, have now eased," he said.
Indonesian stocks advanced after the official vote count showed Joko Widodo the clear winner of a bitterly-contested presidential election. On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index advanced 28.94 points to 9,027 and the Industrial Index rose 1.27 points to 3,231.07.
The Finance Index dipped 3.06 points to 17,391.8. The FBM Emas Index improved 11.62 points to 13,073.85, FBMT100 Index added 7.06 points to 12,652.33, the FBM 70 gained 22.94 points to 14,370.24 and the FBM Ace jumped 66.62 points to 7,054.75.
Gainers led losers by 468 to 393, with 320 counters unchanged, 447 untraded and 13 others suspended. Total volume decreased to 2.33 billion units valued at RM2.06 billion from 2.57 billion units valued at RM2.07 billion transacted on Tuesday.
Among actives, Malaysia Airlines eased half a sen to 22.5 sen, Sumatec and Talam Transform were flat at 41 sen and 12 sen, respectively, while Sasbadi rose 30 sen to RM1.49.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM9.91, TNB went up four sen to RM12.42, Public Bank eased four sen to RM19.98 while Axiata was flat at RM6.89. Main Market volume shed to 1.82 billion units valued at RM1.92 billion from 2.12 billion units valued at RM1.97 billion on Tuesday.
Turnover on the ACE market advanced to 451.44 million shares worth RM125.84 million from Tuesday's 383.98 million shares worth RM89.25 million. Warrants declined to 42.21 million units valued at RM6.1 million from 58.97 million units worth RM8.08 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 167.91 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 261.49 million, construction 101.51 million, trade and services 809.46 million, technology 58.44 million, infrastructure 16.6 million, SPAC 64.65 million, finance 34.79 million, hotels 4.17 million, properties 266.61 million, plantations 24.17 million, mining 224,500, REITs 9.28 million and closed/fund 29,800.
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM128.80 per gramme, down 44 sen from RM129.24 at 5pm yesterday. – Bernama