Bursa Malaysia rebounds to close higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded to close higher today on last-minute buying interest in index-linked counters amid a mixed performance on regional bourses as the US-China trade conflict lingers, said a dealer.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished at an intra-day high of 1,726.67, up 4.74 points, from Friday's close of 1,721.93.
The barometer index traded between the closing's intra-day high and a low of 1,717.93 points, throughout the day.
Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff, Putra Business School's senior lecturer and manager of business development, said there were no surprises in today's equity market performance as there was a lack of specific response on the latest updates on the US-China tariff war.
"In addition, recent decision by Bank Negara Malaysia not to raise the overnight policy rate signalled optimism on the nation's economic growth," he told Bernama today.
Another dealer said the uncertainties surrounding the US-China trade war had sent equity and foreign exchange markets into a limbo.
Meanwhile, reports today said that China had filed a World Trade Organisation challenge to Washington's threat to raise tariffs on US$200 billion of Chinese goods.
Regionally, Singapore's Straits Times declined 0.85% to 3,232.79, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.05% to 28,539.66, and China's SSE Composite Index eased 0.61% to 2,814.04.
Back home, market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 424 to 414 with 417 counters unchanged, 652 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Volume decreased to 2.04 billion units valued at RM1.99 billion, from 3.27 billion units valued at RM2.83 billion recorded last Friday.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank added six sen to RM9.57, Public Bank rose two sen to RM23.02, Petronas Chemicals was 25 sen higher at RM8.87, but CIMB declined six sen to RM5.66, while Tenaga was flat at RM14.64.
Among actives, MyEG rose 10.5 sen to RM1.01, Sino Hua-An inched up half-a-sen to 32 sen, Frontken bagged four sen to 50.5 sen while MRCB declined half-a-sen to 68.5 sen and Sapura trimmed one sen to 58.5 sen.
Top Glove led the gainers' list today, putting on 39 sen to RM10.30 while Heineken was the biggest decliner, giving up 18 sen to RM23.10.
The FBM Emas Index chalked up 55.63 points to 12,201.84, the FBM70 surged 153.75 points to 14,937.38, the FBMT100 Index rose 55.62 points to 12,003.65, the FBM Emas Syariah Index increased 68.61 points to 12,307.37, the FBM Ace Index advanced 26.16 points to 5,377.5 and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Small Cap Index improved 51.38 points to 14,293.85.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 4.92 points to 17,039.3, the Industrial Index bagged 9.41 points to 3,188.97 and the Plantation Index gained 6.82 points to 7,519.36.
Main Market volume decreased to 1.20 billion shares valued at RM1.76 billion, from 2.15 billion shares valued at RM2.56 billion registered on Friday.
Warrants turnover declined to 574.51 million units valued at RM177.2 million, versus Friday's 761.7 million units valued at RM183.47 million.
Volume on the ACE Market trimmed to 262.85 million shares valued at RM44.49 million, from 356.5 million shares valued at RM83.38 million recorded last Friday.
Consumer products accounted for 37.04 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (220 million), construction (115.13 million), trade and services (505.88 million), technology (90.84 million), infrastructure (23.73 million), SPAC (1.58 million), finance (52.19 million), hotels (1.16 million), properties (122.94 million), plantations (27.83 million), mining (9,400), REITs (7.83 million) and closed/fund (22,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM156.52 per gramme, up 17 sen from RM156.35 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama