Bursa Malaysia closes at intra-day high

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed at its intra-day high on continued buying support for heavyweights mainly in the finance, telecommunications and trade & services-related counters.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 5.41 points or 0.30% higher at 1,768.15 after fluctuating between 1,763.29 and 1,768.15 throughout the day.
The index opened 2.31 points better at 1,765.05 from Friday's close of 1,762.74.
Market breadth was positive with losers outpacing gainers 547 to 388, while 385 counters were unchanged, 431 untraded and 26 others suspended.
Volume widened to 4.00 billion units, worth RM2.42 billion, from 3.57 billion units, valued at RM2.49 billion, recorded last Friday.
Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd Research Head Edmund Tham said the higher close on the local bourse was also supported by its regional peers which reacted positively to the winning of Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the French presidential election on Sunday.
He also said encouraging export data in major sectors for March, also boosted some technological companies among active counters.
Meanwhile, commenting on Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd (IWC)'s shares which hit a limit down of RM2.16, 92 sen or 29.87% weaker today, he said the aborted deal between Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd and Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corperation (M) Sdn Bhd (CREC) last week were still dampening investor sentiment.
IWC had 4.17 million shares changing hands.
"Investors are also speculating that if the situation remains, they should start looking out for other companies which have the potential to seal the deal and become the main developer for Bandar Malaysia such as Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd and WCT Holdings Bhd," Tham told Bernama.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gained nine sen to RM9.30, TNB rose two sen to RM13.92 while Public Bank, Sime Darby and PChem were flat each at RM20, RM9.32, RM7.15, respectively.
Of actives, Netx perked one sen to 8.5 sen, Glotec and Perisai each added half-a-sen to 7.5 sen and seven sen, respectively, while AirAsia X fell half-a-sen to 50 sen.
The FBM Emas Index accumulated 55.26 points to 12,652.79, the FBMT100 Index increased 59.43 points to 12,281.22 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 59.02 points higher at 12,995.79.
The FBM 70 advanced 155.41 points to 15,187.97 and the FBM Ace rose 24.53 points to 6,325.36.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index surged 95.14 points to 16,333.22, the Plantation Index improved 6.92 points to 8,071.25 and the Industrial Index was 10.09 points firmer at 3,244.76.
Main Market turnover expanded to 2.46 billion units, worth RM2.23 billion, from 2.19 billion units, valued at RM2.32 billion, registered on Friday.
Volume on the ACE Market widened to 1.20 billion units, valued at RM153.90 million, from 1.06 billion units, worth RM134.45 million, previously.
Warrants improved to 302.22 million, worth RM36.89 million, from 295.72 million, valued at RM34.19 million, on Friday.
Consumer products accounted for 135.52 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (648.60 million), construction (283.52 million), trade and services (774.20 million), technology (138.97 million), infrastructure (8.95 million), SPAC (879,200), finance (60.21 million), hotels (739,300), properties (382.25 million), plantations (26.36 million), mining (96,000), REITs (7.03 million), and closed/fund (188,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM166.44 per gramme, up 53 sen from RM165.91 at 5pm last Friday. -- Bernama