Bursa Malaysia ends higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher today, lifted mainly by fund inflows from foreign institutional investors amid US stock market volatility.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's Head of Research Kenny Yee said Wall Street's volatility had shifted investors' interest towards the "steadier" Asian markets, with Malaysia being one of their top picks.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at 1,870.37, up 6.90 points from last Friday's close of 1,863.47.
It opened 2.63 points weaker at 1,860.84 and moved between 1,860.25 and 1,873.39 throughout the day.
On the broader market, losers edged gainers 411 to 401, while 406 counters were unchanged, 694 untraded and 74 others suspended.
Volume stood at 1.70 billion units valued at RM1.83 billion.
"The uptrend on Bursa Malaysia today was also in tandem with the better performance on regional bourses following the shift in funds flow into the region," Yee told Bernama.
According to the weekly fund flow report released by MIDF Amanah Invesment Bank Bhd Research today, the busiest week of Wall Street's earnings season ended weak with all three major benchmarks posting losses, mainly hampered by concerns on bond yields.
Regionally, the Singapore's Straits Times Index was 41.76 points or 1.17% higher at 3,618.97, Japan's Nikkei rose 148.26 points or 0.66% to 22,467.87 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 527.78 points or 1.74% to 30,808.45.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM10.78, Public Bank gained 20 sen to RM23.80, CIMB slipped five sen to RM7.20, while Tenaga and Petronas Chemicals fell two sen each to RM15.84 and RM8.45, respectively.
For actives, Borneo Oil inched up half-a-sen to nine sen, Sapura Energy retreated 3.5 sen to 64 sen while Nexgram, Sumatec and PUC were unchanged at 6.5 sen, 6.5 sen and 20 sen, respectively,
KLCC led the list of top gainers, putting on 39 sen to RM7.78 while top loser, Lotte Chemical, fell 52 sen to RM5.71.
The FBM Emas Index improved 44.96 points to 13,033.69, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 45.24 points to 12,852.17, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 40.34 points to 13,169.14 and the FBM 70 added 46.94 points to 15,452.99.
The FBM Ace, however, was 23.62 points lower at 5,285.52.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index surged 86.50 points to 18,362.39, the Industrial Index advanced 15.84 points to 3,226.41 while the Plantation Index lost 1.40 points to 7,975.84.
Main Market volume swelled to 973.86 million shares worth RM1.69 billion from 766.47 million shares worth RM1.70 billion last Friday.
Warrants volume shrank to 418.59 million units valued at RM91.30 million against 448.07 million units worth RM117 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market dropped to 311.14 million shares worth RM48.65 million from 411.84 million shares worth RM56.79 million.
Consumer products accounted for 43.63 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (165.82 million), construction (36.94 million), trade and services (565.57 million), technology (27.93 million), infrastructure (9.58 million), SPAC (2.58 million), finance (39.73 million), hotels (7.24 million), properties (49.34 million), plantations (17.83 million), mining (43,500), REITs (7.56 million) and closed/fund (2,000).
The market will be closed on Tuesday for the Labour Day public holiday.
Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed higher on Monday, with April recording the highest volume on its last trading day today.
Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd Dealer Chang Hui Ying said the New York Commodity Exchange’s (COMEX) gold market, however, was on the downtrend as demand for the metal was dented by higher US bond yields and a stronger dollar.
“This week, there are a few important events, the Federal Open Market Committee meeting and its interest rate decision on Wednesday and Thursday and the US employment data followed by nonfarm payrolls on Friday.
"These three events would set the direction for gold outlook this week,” she said.
April 2018 rose 10 ticks to RM166.5 a gramme, May 2018 gained 17 ticks to RM167.25 while June 2018 and July 2018 were both unchanged at RM166.50 a gramme, respectively.
Volume improved to 11 lots worth RM182,640 from three lots worth RM49,800 last Friday while open interest was slightly higher at 69 contracts from 64 contracts previously.
At 5pm, the price of physical gold was up 18 sen to RM160.56 per gramme. — Bernama