Bursa Malaysia ends higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher on continued buying interest in selected heavyweight stocks, led by the finance sector, coupled with the bounce on regional peers, dealers said.
The barometer index was mainly lifted by Public Bank and CIMB Group, which together accounted for 4.59 points of the index.
At the close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 6.43 points higher at 1,861.50, after moving between 1,853.66 and 1,864.95 during the day.
It opened 1.41 points lower at 1,853.66 from Thursday's close of 1,855.07.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers by 560 to 430 with 432 counters unchanged, 472 untraded and 36 others were suspended.
Volume increased to 3.55 billion units, worth RM2.68 billion, compared with Thursday's 2.34 billion shares valued at RM2.28 billion.
A dealer said the local bourse tracked the performance of Asian markets which rebounded to make broad gains today after the better overnight performance of Wall Street.
"Asian stocks also ended higher today after US government debt yields fell from multi-year highs reached on Wednesday, helping ease worries over inflation and higher interest rates," he added.
On the local front, the local bourse traded range bound in early session as investors continued to weigh the minutes of the recent Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting, as well as, the impact of higher bond yields but last-minute buying of heavyweight stocks helped lift the market higher, he added.
Heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB added six sen each to RM10.26 and RM7.19, respectivley, Public Bank rose 52 sen to RM22.80 and while Tenaga and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM15.64 and RM8.11 respectively.
Among active counters, Mah Sing warrant and MRCB warrant added one sen each to 1.5 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively, Toyoink warrant rose 5.5 sen to 15.5 sen while AirAsia X improved 2.5 sen to 44 sen.
The FBM Emas Index gained 37.02 points to 13,313.78, the FBMT 100 Index added 33.35 points to 13,005.39, the FBM Ace rose 66.77 points to 6,449.98, the FBM 70 improved 2.88 points to 16,372.55 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index advanced 9.03 points to 13,601.39.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was 4.03 points lower at 3,252.13 and the Plantation Index slipped 30.39 points to 8,061.49 but the Finance Index jumped 133.07 points to 18,001.78
The Main Market volume increased to 2.33 billion units, worth RM248.11 billion, compared with 1.54 billion units, valued at RM1.90 billion, recorded on Thursday.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 576.88 million shares, valued at RM95.29 million, from 337.31 million shares, worth RM69.28 million, transacted yesterday.
Warrants' volume was higher at 63.12 million units, worth RM96.77 million, from Thursday's 464.30 million units valued at RM86.99 million.
Consumer products accounted for 117.58 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (594.41 million), construction (63.53 million), trade and services (728.34 million), technology (56.69 million), infrastructure (6.45 million), SPAC (33.42 million), finance (70.02 million), hotels (304,300), properties (600.95 million), plantations (52.11 million), mining (298,200), REITs (5.34 million), and closed/fund (7,000)
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM161.83 per gramme, up 78 sen from RM161.05 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama