Bursa Malaysia ends higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded, in the late trading session, to end higher today, tracking the performance of its regional peers, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.91 points to finish at 1,739.05 compared with Tuesday's close of 1,736.14.
After opening 0.89 of-a-point better at 1,737.03 in the morning, the index moved between 1,733.67 and 1,740.51 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers by 467 to 362, with 403 counters unchanged, 620 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Volume fell to 2.46 billion worth RM1.89 billion from 2.48 billion units worth RM2.12 billion on Tuesday.
A dealer said Asian bourses were mostly higher, taking the cue from the firmer overnight Wall Street and the Dow Jones Industrial Average which posted its biggest gain in more than a month, solid earnings reports from heavyweights, as well as, promises of tax reform from the US administration.
On the local front, Bursa Malaysia staged a last minute technical rebound with mid-to-large cap stocks consolidating sideways ahead of the Budget 2018 details.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.45% to 21,707.62, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.53% to 28,302.86, South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.08% to 2,492.50 and the Singapore Straits Times Index increased 0.16% to 3,340.14.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank eased one sen to RM9.24 while Sime Darby and Petronas Chemicals slid three sen each to RM9.08 and RM7.45, respectively.
TNB added four sen to RM14.34 and Public Bank gained two sen RM20.46.
Among active counters, D. B. E. Gurney Resources edged up half-a-sen each to 3.5 sen, MNC Wireless and PUC added one sen each to 10 sen and 17.5 sen, respectively, UMW Oil & Gas warrant gained 14.5 sen to 15 sen, while Trive Property fell two sen to 16 sen.
The FBM Emas Index rose 24.73 points to 12,490.73, FBMT100 Index was 23.83 points higher at 12,132.37, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 35.17 points to 12,865.58 and the FBM 70 advanced 42.96 points to 15,203.33.
The FBM Ace fell 47.01 points to 6,838.16.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 0.61 af a point easier at 7,926.29, the Industrial Index fell 2.81 points to 3,197.37 while the Finance Index gained 2.94 points to 16,260.65.
The Main Market narrowed to 1.69 billion shares, worth RM1.76 billion, from 1.72 billion shares, worth RM1.97 billion, registered on Tuesday.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 643.01 million units, valued at RM112.22 million, versus yesterday's 582.84 million units valued at RM134.83 million.
Warrants volume decreased to 120.97 million shares, worth RM11.45 million, from 164.79 million shares, worth RM17.50 million, previously.
Consumer products accounted for 281.93 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (278.18 million), construction (111.27 million), trade and services (616.09 million), technology (262.69 million), infrastructure (7.56 million), SPAC (252,000), finance (33.15 million), hotels (732,700), properties (66.66 million), plantations (25.50 million), mining (5,900), REITs (5.48 million), and closed/fund (8,500). — Bernama