Bursa Malaysia ends higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia snapped a three-day losing streak to end higher today on bargain hunting in selected heavyweights, dealers said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished at 1,670.27, up 1.24 points, from yesterday's close of 1,669.03, after opening 0.58 of-a-point stronger at 1,669.61.
The benchmark index moved between 1,666.97 and 1,671.72 throughout the day.
Among heavyweights, Tenaga added 10 sen to RM14.42, Maybank gained four sen to RM7.83, Public Bank rose eight sen to RM19.84, Petronas Chemicals declined four sen to RM6.96 and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.41.
As for actives, XOX fell 1.5 sen to 13.5 sen, RGB gained one sen to 21 sen, Kinsteel decreased 2.5 sen to three sen and Sumatec was flat at six sen.
A dealer said bargain hunting by institutional funds supported the local market but further gains were limited by fears of a better-than-expected US third-quarter gross domestic product data which will be out later tonight.
He said a positive US growth data would boost the prospects of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in December.
Meanwhile, he said Asian stock markets were mixed as they were still affected by a flurry of major corporate earnings reports across the region and the declining oil prices.
Regionally, Singapore's Straits Times gave up 0.45% to 2,816.26, Japan's Nikkei 225 was 0.63% higher at 17,446.41, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.26% to 3,104.27.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 428 to 335 with 387 counters unchanged, 550 untraded and 80 others suspended.
Volume was lower at 1.48 billion units worth RM1.66 billion from 1.49 billion units worth RM1.61 billion on Thursday.
The FBM Emas Index rose 3.24 points to 11,783.90, the FBMT 100 Index added 4.24 points to 11,485.75 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index increased 0.36 of-a-point to 12,423.30.
The FBM 70 declined 10.46 points to 13,756.45 and the FBM Ace was 30.20 points lower at 5,113.73.
The Finance Index increased 43.53 points to 14,526.05, the Plantation Index advanced 1.84 points to 7,957.51 and the Industrial Index improved 4.30 points at 3,157.51.
Main Market turnover widened to 1.02 billion units worth RM1.58 billion from 996.24 million units worth RM1.53 billion on Thursday.
The ACE Market volume fell to 286.47 million shares valued at RM41.84 million from 295.03 million shares valued at RM37.10 million yesterday.
Warrants decreased to 174.92 million units worth RM37.46 million from 197.34 million units worth RM37.10 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 76.39 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (206.64 million), construction (86.15 million), trade and services (389.68 million), technology (22.84 million), infrastructure (13.13 million), SPAC (104.31 million), finance (35.32 million), hotels (73,000), properties (57.54 million), plantations (15.49 million), mining (3,000), REITs (12.43 million) and closed/fund (14,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM165.45 per gramme, up 41 sen from RM165.04 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama