Bursa Malaysia ends higher in range bound trade

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher in range bound and cautious trading, with buying support interspersed with profit-taking throughout the trading session, dealers said.
At the close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.18 points higher at 1,858.17, after moving between 1,852.14 and 1,860.43 during the day.
It opened 1.94 points lower at 1,855.38 against Tuesday's close of 1,855.99.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers by 605 to 330 with 391 counters unchanged, 574 untraded and 29 others were suspended.
Volume was flat at 2.28 billion units, worth RM2.53 billion, compared with Tuesday's 2.28 billion shares valued at RM2.10 billion.
A dealer said the local bourse was tracking Asian shares which ended mostly higher, bucking the overnight losses on Wall Street.
Wall Street snapped a six-day rally on retailer Walmart Inc's disappointing results as well as a late sell-off in technology stocks.
The dealer said trading was cautious as investors awaited the release of the US Federal Reserve's minutes of the Jan 30-31 meeting, expected later today, to assess the outlook for rate tightening.
On the local front, last-minute buying of heavyweight stocks helped lift the market, he added.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.21% to 21,970.81, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.83% to 31,439.04, South Korea's Kospi improved 0.60% to 2,429.65 and Singapore Straits Times Index added 1.14% to 3,516.07.
Of heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals added four sen each to RM10.18 and RM8.14, respectively, Public Bank rose six sen to RM22.14 and CIMB perked one sen to RM7.13. However, Tenaga shed two sen to RM15.70.
Among active counters, Hibiscus Petroleum fell 1.5 sen to 96.5 sen, PUC and Sapura Energy eased half-a-sen each to 27 sen and 69 sen, respectively, and Sino Hua-An added one sen to 57.5 sen.
Meanwhile, Sumatec Resources and Hibiscus warrants were both flat at eight sen each.
The FBM Emas Index gained 31.48 points to 13,282.28, the FBMT 100 Index was up 26.41 points at 12,980.36 and the FBM 70 jumped 71.08 points to 16,335.13.
The FBM Ace rose 54.81 points to 6,389.14 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index advanced 25.44 points to 13,600.76.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was 16.49 points higher at 3,259.47, the Finance Index surged 86.99 points to 17,868.80 but the Plantation Index eased 1.72 points to 8,058.72.
The Main Market volume decreased to 1.27 billion units, worth RM2.34 billion, compared with 1.30 billion units, worth RM1.90 billion, recorded on Tuesday.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 333.13 million shares, valued at RM64.83 million, from 297.30 million shares, worth RM63.18 million, transacted yesterday.
Warrants' volume was higher at 673.62 million units, worth RM119.13 million, from Tuesday's 670.29 million units valued at RM139.41 million.
Consumer products accounted for 91.34 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (341.94 million), construction (51.84 million), trade and services (477.91 million), technology (41.73 million), infrastructure (7.79 million), SPAC (2.71 million), finance (76.88 million), hotels (422,900), properties (117.01 million), plantations (39.19 million), mining (134,800), REITs (21.42 million), and closed/fund (nil).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM161.49 per gramme, down 80 sen from RM162.29 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama