Bursa Malaysia closes higher in sync with regional bourses

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher today in tandem with the better performance on regional bourses, supported by continued buying in consumer and industrial product counters, dealers said.
At close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.84 points higher at 1,782.74 after moving between 1,778.27 and 1,784.25 throughout the day.
It opened 0.37 of-a-point higher at 1,780.27 from last Friday's close of 1,779.90.
Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 527 to 351 with 371 counters unchanged, 585 untraded and 23 others suspended.
Volume declined to 2.73 billion units worth RM2.16 billion from 2.97 billion units valued at RM2.27 billion on Friday.
A dealer said Asian stocks were in positive territory today, with Vietnam hitting more than nine-and-a-half-year high as investors breathed a sigh of relief after North Korea held back on a missile test.
Despite a small increase on Friday, the US dollar was still lower on average so far this year, and this had also increased the purchasing power of regional currencies and underpin stocks including the local bourse, he added.
On the local front, Bursa Malaysia traded higher today as investors reacted well to the series of positive events that happened recently, particularly the appointment of a new Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) Chairman, Datuk Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid, who pledged to turn around the company as well as resolve the issues within the group.
There was also news report which stated a possible return of the group's President/Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Zakaria Arshad, to his seat in the near future.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 1.41% to 19,545.77, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.04% to 27,957.18, South Korea's Kospi added 0.66% to 2,359.08 but the Singapore Straits Times index eased 1.65% to 3,226.91.
For heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM9.62, Sime Darby advanced seven sen to RM9.14 while TNB and Public Bank were flat at RM14.58 and RM20.60, respectively.
Among active counters, Sino Hua-An rose two sen to 25.5 sen, AirAsia X improved four sen to 41 sen, Anzo Holdings earned half-a-sen to 12 sen while MLAB shed one sen to 13 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 22.89 points higher at 12,712.17, FBMT 100 Index improved 19.65 points to 12,377.17 and the FBM Ace jumped 47.68 points to 6,697.26.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index gained 25.79 points to 12,911.93 while the FBM 70 added 24.02 points to 15,286.94.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 23.47 points to 7,913.68, Industrial Index improved 4.48 points to 3,213.20 and the Finance Index surged 52.82 points to 16,779.35.
The Main Market volume decreased to 1.75 billion shares worth RM1.97 billion, from 1.76 billion shares worth RM2.06 billion recorded on Friday.
Volume on the ACE Market narrowed to 753.65 billion units valued at RM167.57 million, versus Friday's 1.01 billion units worth RM184.6 million.
Warrants improved to 213.82 million shares valued at RM26.20 million, from 187.15 million shares worth RM22.16 million on Friday.
Consumer products accounted for 106.02 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (582.93 million), construction (78.69 million), trade and services (605.33 million), technology (47.82 million), infrastructure (6.61 million), SPAC (792,100), finance (70.74 million), hotels (2.04 million), properties (197.16 million), plantations (48.44 million), mining (425,400), REITs (4.10 million), and closed/fund (19,500).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM174.62 per gramme, down RM1.72 from RM176.34 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama