Bursa Malaysia bucks regional trend to close marginally higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended marginally higher today after four straight days of losses, bucking the performance of regional bourses which ended mostly lower, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at 1,852.27, down 0.34 of-a-point from Wednesday's close of 1,851.93.
It opened 4.26 points higher at 1,856.19 and moved between 1,846.54 and 1,863.57 throughout the day.
Market breadth was positive with gainers thumping losers by 442 to 349 while 449 counters remained unchanged, 674 untraded and 88 others suspended.
Volume rose to 2.04 billion units worth RM2.13 billion from 1.87 billion units worth RM1.97 billion yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd Head of Research Kenny Yee said Bursa Malaysia ended higher, supported by buying in heavyweight stocks.
He said Asian equities were mostly lower amid concerned over rising US bond yields and the impact of inflation while assessing the ongoing earnings season for clues on the ability of global equities to cope with higher interest rates.
"Bursa Malaysia is considered as one of the safe haven markets in the region, hence, is saved from the volatility, with the market today supported by (both) institutional, as well as, foreign buying," he told Bernama.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei added 0.47% to 22,319.61, South Korea's Kospi gained 1.10% to 2,475.64, Singapore's Straits Times Index was 0.08% better at 3,570.76, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.06% to 30,007.68, and Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index was 2.81% lower at 5,909.20.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added 10 sen to RM10.68, Petronas Chemicals gained two sen to RM8.41, CIMB improved three sen to RM7.20, Public Bank fell 12 sen to RM23.72, while Tenaga was flat at RM15.84.
For actives, Sapura Energy added one sen to 67.5 sen, Nexgram and PUC eased half-a-sen each to 6.5 sen and 20 sen, respectively, while Borneo Oil was flat at eight sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 40.98 points higher at 12,899.16, the FBMT 100 Index rose 40.93 points to 12,716.77 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index added 40.40 points to 13,040.11.
The FBM 70 jumped 181.57 points to 15,252.35 and the FBM Ace improved 23.02 points to 5,275.71.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index increased 46.02 points to 18,221.48, the Plantation Index gained 10.78 points to 7,965.22, while the Industrial Index slid 5.75 points to 3,200.64.
Main Market volume improved to 1.07 billion shares worth RM1.90 billion from 1.06 billion shares worth RM1.84 billion on Wednesday.
Warrants volume widened to 605.65 million units valued at RM173.95 million from 533.38 million units valued at RM88.64 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 366.91 million shares worth RM56.82 million from 279.99 million shares worth RM38.92 million on Wednesday.
Consumer products accounted for 115.43 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (220.74 million), construction (47.05 million), trade and services (491.08 million), technology (58.31 million), infrastructure (14.78 million), SPAC (7.51 million), finance (45.32 million), hotels (922,500), properties (36.97 million), plantations (18.74 million), mining (15,600), REITs (13.89 million), and closed/fund (49,500).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM161.07 per gramme, down eight sen from RM161.15 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama