Bursa Malaysia rallies on positive sentiment
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended its rally for the third consecutive day in tandem with regional peers as market sentiment turned positive following US President Trump's trade decisions.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 3.24 points to end at 1,683.93 compared with Tuesday's close of 1,680.69.
After opening 3.70 points better at 1,683.46, the index moved between 1,681.10 and 1,684.79 throughout the day.
Gainers led losers 409 to 327, with 375 counters unchanged, 633 untraded and 35 others were suspended.
Volume decreased to 1.30 billion shares, worth RM1.81 billion, from Tuesday's 1.56 billion shares worth RM2.06 billion.
Trump's protectionist trade decision cleared investors' uncertainties regarding his policies on corporate taxes and regulations.
"Investors are likely to focus solely on the earnings season for the time being," said a dealer.
Public Investment Bank Bhd, in a note, said the better tone to equities came as participants digested US corporate earnings and were optimistic of the prospects for global economic growth.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 1.43% to 19,057.50, China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.22% to 3,149.55 and the Hang Seng Index perked 0.43% to 23,049.12.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index increased 16.53 points to 11,782.57, the FBMT 100 Index rose 16.64 points to 11,489.77 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index was 9.32 points higher at 12,266.66.
The FBM 70 fell 1.58 points to 13,435.37 but the FBM Ace Index garnered 16.65 points to 4,928.82.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was 8.15 points better at 3,176.95, the Finance Index increased 41.84 points to 14,860.09 and the Plantation Index accumulated 14.93 points to 7,949.32.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.33, Public Bank perked four sen to RM20.20 and Sime Darby improved two sen to RM8.70 but Tenaga lost eight sen to RM13.80 while Petronas Chemicals was unchanged at RM7.16.
As for actives, CIMB increased four sen to RM4.96, AirAsia X and KNM Group inched up half-a-sen each to 39.5 sen and 35 sen, respectively.
Hibiscus shed two sen to 46 sen and Bumi Armada and IFCA shed half-a-sen each to 62 sen and 37.5 sen, respectively.
Main Market turnover fell to 931.95 million units, worth RM1.75 billion from Tuesday's 1.07 billion units worth RM1.95 billion.
ACE Market volume reduced to 236.76 million shares, valued at RM41 million, from yesterday's 339.19 million shares valued at RM51.72 million.
Warrants shrank to 128.10 million units, worth RM19.86 million, from 142.38 million units, worth RM19.10 million, registered previously.
Consumer products accounted for 78.81 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (240.39 million), construction (51.24 million), trade and services (336.84 million), technology (61.62 million), infrastructure (12.21 million), SPAC (3.57 million), finance (53.32 million), hotels (199,300), properties (59.99 million), plantations (18.39 million), mining (0), REITs (15.35 million), and closed/fund (15,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM165.85 per gramme, down RM1.58 from RM167.43 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama