Bursa Malaysia closes steady, FBM KLCI up 2.04 points
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended steady today with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ending 2.04 points higher at 1,629.32.
The barometer moved between 1,627.57 and 1,632.71 points throughout the day, after opening 0.87 point better at 1,628.15.
However, market breadth was negative as losers outpaced gainers 410 to 344 with 366 counters unchanged, 604 untraded and 24 suspended.
Volume slipped to 1.50 billion shares worth RM1.81 billion from 1.38 billion shares worth RM1.38 billion on Monday.
Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd Research Head Pong Teng Siew said foreign buying activities supported the local bourse today, particularly in the heavyweight counters.
"The big-cap stocks were holding quite well and this was actually enough to bring the barometer index up. We can see today's trading was supported by easing in foreign selling, which had been active for the past few days.
"As for small-cap stocks, the counters were traded mixed," he told Bernama.
Among heavyweights, TNB went up 10 sen to RM14.20, Petronas Chemicals rose two sen to RM6.89, Maybank slipped nine sen to RM7.69 and Sime Darby fell 10 sen to RM7.95 while Public Bank was flat at RM19.54.
Of the actives, FGV lost 20 sen to RM1.69, Sumatec Resources and AirAsia X were flat at six sen and 40 sen respectively and Hibiscus Petroleum was down half-a-sen to 28 sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 10.18 points to 11,477.28, the FBMT100 Index added 11.05 points to 11,187.17, the FBM 70 advanced 2.47 points to 13,337.66, the FBM Ace accumulated 2.46 points to 5,017.23 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index gained 3.39 points to 12,077.56.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index slid 0.49 point to 3,070.81, the Finance Index was 31.94 points easier at 14,162.50 and the Plantation Index fell 31.62 points to 7,703.77.
Main Market turnover went up to 994.91 million units worth RM1.73 billion from 922.28 million units worth RM1.29 billion yesterday.
The ACE Market volume declined to 208.74 million shares valued at RM33.07 from 214.42 million shares valued at RM39.7 million previously.
Warrants were slightly higher at 271.07 million units worth RM50.1 million from 220.81 million units worth RM45.93 million on Monday.
Consumer products accounted for 55.84 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (191.23 million), construction (72.12 million), trade and services (402.81 million), technology (58.65 million), infrastructure (9.77 million), SPAC (21.82 million), finance (51.39 million), hotels (222,400) properties (44.36 million), plantations (66.13 million), mining (nil), REITs (20.54 million), and closed/fund (27,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM167.48 per gramme, up 40 sen from RM167.08 at 5pm last yesterday. — Bernama