KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher today, boosted by positive buying sentiment and in tandem with most Asian peers despite global economic uncertainties, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed at 1,693.59 points, up 5.45 points, against yesterday’s close of 1,688.14.
The index opened 1.16 points higher at 1,689.30 and moved between 1,686.87 and 1,694.59 throughout the day.
The overall market breadth remained bullish as gainers outnumbered losers 458 to 375 while 346 counters were unchanged, 720 untraded and 28 others were suspended.
Total volume rose to 2.44 billion shares, worth RM2.12 billion, from yesterday’s 2.07 billion shares valued at RM1.92 billion.
A dealer said Asian stocks traded mostly higher today as some investors began to focus on the strong earnings-driven performance of the overnight Wall Street, which sparked some positive sentiment in regional bourses
However, he said gains were capped by uncertainties surrounding global economic outlook, as well as, the ongoing US-China trade dispute.
Back home, Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) decision today to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) at 3.25% at its first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for the year also boosted the local index.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and TNB rose eight sen each to RM9.62 and RM13.62, respectively, Public Bank improved two sen to RM24.82 and Petronas Chemicals jumped 10 sen to RM8.52.
Of actives, Bumi Armada increased 1.5 sen to 22.5 sen, FGV advanced five sen to RM1.06 while Bina Puri slipped five sen to 19.5 sen and PUC eased half-a-sen to 9.5 sen.
Meanwhile, Datasonic shares rose four sen to 51 sen after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) issued a clarification informing that the company was not the entity under investigation by the commission in reference to the case of Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Trading in the counter was, however, halted from 3.36pm today and will resume at 9am tomorrow.
The FBM Emas Index was 57.12 points higher at 11,719.84, the FBMT 100 Index increased 56.21 points to 11,603.09, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 69.98 points to 11,645.43, the FBM 70 soared 145.06 points to 13,840.49 and the FBM Ace Index rose 7.09 points to 4,450.87.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index went up 72.64 points to 17,590.40, the Plantation Index rose 41.24 points to 7,289.75 and the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.9 of-a-point to 162.18.
Main Market volume rose to 1.71 billion shares, valued at RM2 billion, against Wednesday’s 1.48 billion shares worth RM1.80 billion.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 330.38 million units, worth RM60.63 million, versus yesterday’s 335.47 million units valued at RM61.28 million.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 397.56 million shares, worth RM55.33 million, compared with 259.80 million shares, valued at RM56.78 million, transacted on Wednesday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 183.39 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (251.16 million), construction (245.51 million), technology (208.97 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (51.27 million), property (128.50 million), plantations (94.62 million), REITs (33.92 million), closed/fund (41,300), energy (350.21 million), healthcare (35.11 million), telecommunications and media (51.95 million), transportation and logistics (48.35 million), and utilities (22.89 million). — Bernama
