KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded from earlier losses to close higher today, bucking the downtrend in regional stock markets, spurred by late bargain hunting in selected index-linked counters, dealers said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.54 points to finish at an intraday high of 1,585.14 compared with 1,580.60 on Tuesday’s close.
The index, which mostly moved in the negative territory throughout the day, dipped to low of 1,573.92 earlier in the morning session.
Public Bank was the biggest contributor to the rise in the composite index with 2.872 points after soaring 42 sen to RM19.56 with 3.03 million shares changing hands.
Other significant contributors were Maxis and Press Metal contributing a combined 3.075 points.
“Market sentiment was weak regionally and the recent selling has made some stocks attractive for accumulation,” a dealer said.
Market breadth was negative with 471 losers and 339 gainers, while 423 counters remained unchanged, 734 were untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover was slightly lower at 2.54 billion shares worth RM1.68 billion versus yesterday’s 2.65 billion shares worth RM1.77 billion.
Another dealer said most Asian bourses declined today ahead of the signing of the US-China phase one trade deal.
“Sentiment in the market tumbled after US Treasury Secretary commented that Washington will not remove tariffs on Chinese imports until after the 2020 presidential election.
“This has pushed investors away while they await fresh leads from the signing of the trade pact,” he said.
Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index retreated 0.39% to 28,773.59, Japan’s Nikkei 225 decreased 0.45% to 23,916.58 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.41% to 3,256.98.
Of the other heavyweights, Maybank eased five sen to RM8.60, Petronas Chemicals edged down six sen to RM7.03, while both Tenaga and CIMB were flat at RM12.90 and RM5.18, respectively.
Among the actives, Vortex slipped 1.5 sen to 13.5 sen, Yong Tai, Xidelang and London Biscuits eased one sen each to 15 sen, 13 sen and 2.5 sen respectively, but TH Heavy gained two sen to 12 sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index put on 19.97 points to 11,303.17, FBMT 100 Index improved 19.03 points to 11,091.46, and the FBM ACE bagged 9.62 points to 5,560.07.
However, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 3.26 points to 11,922.9 while the FBM 70 slipped 27.72 points to 14,186.63.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.93 of-a-point to 153.41, the Financial Services Index rebounded 55.87 points to 15,434.86 but the Plantation Index gave up 35.46 points to 7,566.86.
Main Market volume decreased to 1.61 billion shares worth RM1.50 billion compared with 1.76 billion shares worth RM1.56 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover advanced slightly to 274.18 million units worth RM45.57 million from yesterday’s 254.94 million units worth RM45.22 million.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 658.01 million shares worth RM126.87 million from 637.78 million shares worth RM168.47 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 261.64 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (215.21 million), construction (166.79 million), technology (180.41 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (28.66 million), property (144.10 million), plantations (112.49 million), REITs (8.81 million), closed/fund (5,700), energy (359.25 million), healthcare (19.18 million), telecommunications and media (20.83 million), transportation and logistics (65.37 million) and utilities (28.73 million). - Bernama
