Mart ends at intra-day high on late buying interests in heavyweights
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished at intra-day high today, up 0.55% on late buying interests in heavyweights, particularly in the trade and services stocks.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) settled at 1,878.76, up 10.29 points from Friday's close of 1,868.472.
The barometer index moved between 1,867.21 and 1,878.76 today after opening 0.22 of-a-point higher at 1,868.69.
Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd Head of Research, Pong Teng Siew, said the market was initially worried about the sharp selling in small-capitalised stocks.
However, the buying momentum was stronger than selling activities, he said.
"We can also see that the oil- and gas-related counters on Bursa Malaysia were doing quite well today.
"This is due to concerns about the oil supply following geopolitical tensions as well as the announcement from the Middle East, which aimed to push the crude oil price further from its current level of US$70 (US$1 = RM3.88) per barrel to near US$80 a barrel," he told Bernama.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Small Cap Index fell 12.49 points to 15,114.62.
On the bullish Bursa Malaysia's performance, he said, some investors were seen seeking shelter in the emerging markets and shifted from the developed markets.
"There's an unusual view which see emerging markets as a more safer place than developed markets due to stable index. Developed markets are more volatile now.
"The benchmark index is now at 1,878-level and it is likely to exceed the all-time high this month, which is close to 1,897," he said.
However, the market breadth was negative with 518 losers and gainers 409, with 370 unchanged and 598 not traded and 21 other suspended.
Volume fell to 2.68 billion units worth RM2.06 billion from 2.72 billion units worth RM2.19 billion on Friday.
Among heavyweights, GenM gained 22 sen to RM5.3, TM advanced 21 sen to RM5.63, Maybank and Digi.Com added six sen each to RM10.60 and RM4.54, respectively while PetDag jumped 60 sen to RM26.08.
NSOP fell 20 sen to RM3.57, DKSH declined 17 sen to RM3.65 while AEONCR and Kossan both slipped 12 sen each to RM12.98 and RM7.68, respectively.
The most actively-traded stock was Sapura Energy, which rose 2.5 sen to 76.5 sen, with 332.979 million shares traded.
UMWOG climbed 1.5 sen to 31.5 sen, HIBSCS's warrants improved two sen to 43 sen while Sumatec and PUC slipped half-a-sen each to nine sen and 25.5 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index rose by 53.36 points to 13,182.88 and the FBMT 100 Index surged by 56.72 points to 12,978.35.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index gained 46.45 points to 13,399.15 and the FBM 70 improved 20.18 points to 15,839.76. The FBM Ace, however, dipped 20.18 points to 5,573.91.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index climbed 7.45 points to 3,228.43, Plantation Index increased 8.05 points to 8,062.58 and the Finance Index added 55.27 points to 18,317.12.
Main Market volume surged to 1.65 billion units worth RM1.88 billion from Friday's 1.61 billion units worth RM2.01 billion.
Warrants volume eased to 561.17 million units valued at RM96.55 million from 595.02 million units worth RM74.17 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 460.37 million shares worth RM86.34 million from 503.08 million shares worth RM100.67 million on Friday.
Consumer products accounted for 75.14 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (346.81 million), construction (53.07 million), trade and services (920.01 million), technology (85.52 million), infrastructure (15.02 million), SPAC (21.83 million), finance (44.97 million), hotels (1.0 million), properties (68.62 million), plantations (17.64 million), mining (34,300), REITs (3.77 million), and closed/fund (39,000). — Bernama