Late buying interests give Bursa Malaysia a lift

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded from its earlier losses to end at intra-day high today on late buying interests in selected heavyweights, among them, Genting Malaysia, Sime Darby and CIMB, dealers said.
At the close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 4.96 points to end at 1,786.33 against Thursday's close of 1,781.37 after moving to a low of 1,776.87 earlier.
It opened 2.62 points better at 1,783.99.
Market breadth, however, was negative with losers leading gainers by 510 to 368 with 350 counters unchanged, 606 untraded and 38 others suspended.
Volume rose to 2.15 billion units worth RM2.69 billion from 1.90 billion units valued at RM1.81 billion on Thursday.
Genting Malaysia and IOI Corp were the top gainers among the heavyweight counters, rising 14 sen and 12 sen each to RM5.82 and RM4.66, respectively. The two counters contributed a collective 2.70 points to the benchmark index's gain.
A dealer said that there were renewed concern in the regional markets after North Korea launched its latest missile test, just days after the United Nations Security Council approved new sanctions against Pyongyang for its Sept 3 nuclear test.
However, he said, the markets were growing accustomed to North Korea's sabre-rattling due to reports that the country was preparing a missile launch, thus producing limited reaction.
Before the test took place, Asian markets were mostly higher, benefiting from positive US consumer inflation data, signalling possible increase in the interest rate by US Federal Reserve in December.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.5% to 19,909.50, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.11% to 27,807.59, South Korea's Kospi earned 0.35% to 2,386.07 while the Singapore Straits Times Index decreased 0.12% to 3,217.15.
For other heavyweights, Maybank and TNB declined two sen each to RM9.70 and RM14.56, respectively, Public Bank slipped four sen to RM20.54 but CIMB jumped six sen to RM6.75 and IOI Corp surged 12 sen to RM4.66.
Among active counters, Sino Hua-An shed two sen to 23.5 sen, Trive Property and MLABS eased half-a-sen each to 12.5 sen and 10 sen, respectively, while Borneo Oil was flat at 10 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 36.39 points higher at 12,723.68, FBMT 100 Index perked 39.37 points to 12,387.94 but the FBM Ace reduced 11.95 points to 6,692.60.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 33.16 points to 12,927.98 and the FBM 70 advanced 67.15 points to 15,246.88.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index improved 47.85 points to 7,970.66, the Industrial Index went up 8.84 points to 3,242.55, and the Finance Index rose 4.09 points to 16,828.98.
The Main Market volume increased to 1.54 billion shares worth RM2.59 billion from 1.99 billion shares worth RM1.68 billion on Thursday.
Volume on the ACE Market widened to 454.97 million units valued at RM84.69 million from 164.47 million units valued at RM109.10 million yesterday.
Warrants fell to 140.86 million shares worth RM20.45 million from 123.22 million shares worth RM16.45 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 81.48 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (455.40 million), construction (73.08 million), trade and services (451.68 million), technology (210.76 million), infrastructure (10.06 million), SPAC (9.55 million), finance (73.39 million), hotels (1.91 million), properties (130.99 million), plantations (34.96 million), mining (231,500), REITs (10.35 million), and closed/fund (23,200).
The physical price of gold as of 5pm stood at RM173.06 per gramme, up 22 sen from RM172.84 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama