KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded today with the key index closing firmly above the key 1,600 support level, propelled by bargain hunting after yesterday’s steep fall.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) settled 12.24 points higher at 1,611.43 as traders actively picked up beaten down counters including heavyweights and lower liners.
The benchmark index opened 2.24 points higher at 1,601.43 from Tuesday’s close of 1,599.19, and moved between 1,601.04 and 1,617.43 during the day.
Gainers trounced losers 599 to 276 with 350 counters unchanged, 686 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover, however, decreased to 2.55 billion shares valued at RM2.12 billion from 2.82 billion shares valued at RM2.46 billion yesterday.
Phillip Capital Management, Asia-Pacific, senior vice president (investment) Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said short-term technical outlook suggested that the FBM KLCI was in a deeply oversold situation and should have had a corrective rally.
“We have expected the index to stage an oversold rebound following a respite on the trade tensions as US President Donald Trump had said the trade spat should hopefully end in ‘three or four weeks’, which restores calm among the investors,“ he told Bernama.
The immediate resistance was spotted at around 1,650 points, followed by 1,700 points, he said.
Nazri Khan said the the current weakness also represented a good buying opportunity for local stocks as there were no signs of slowing down in Malaysian trade volume despite the two-month US-China trade tensions.
“So far, Bursa Malaysia shows a moderate impact from the trade standoff between the US and China, although the unresolved tension could pose a broader economic war.
“The current situation shows that the uncertain market environment has led investors to reduce their investment portfolio,“ he said, adding this was especially so after the US raised tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods last week.
He said the banking sector is likely to absorb the immediate impact, as banks need to adjust their deposit and loan rates. “From the fundamental perspective, a temporary draw-down in earnings in the banking industry is likely to happen.”
Despite the weakening ringgit, some sectors are still showing resilient attitude against the bears, which will indirectly lift up investors’ sentiment.
Meanwhile, the commodity sector shows price stability at around US$70 to US$75 per barrel for the crude oil.
“This gives positive impact to countries that produces oil like Malaysia,“ he added.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said there seemed to be increasing hope that there would be more stimulus measures from China as a series of high frequencies indicators such as Fixed Asset Investment, Industrial Production and Retail Sales had been moderating in the month of April.
“At the moment, we still believe that equities market will remain cautious and corporate results announced so far are not really forthcoming.
“So, we expect range-bound trade to prevail as markets are watching developments over the trade friction between the US and China,“ Mohd Afzanizam said.
Among the heavyweights, Axiata added 12 sen to RM4.42, Dialog rose 21 sen to RM3.28, Digi went up 13 sen to RM4.70 and Hartalega was 27 sen higher at RM5.26.
Maybank improved five sen to RM9.01 and Top Glove was 19 sen better at RM4.97.
Of the actively-traded stocks, Bumi Armada advanced half-a-sen to 19.5 sen, Vortex increased seven sen to 27.5 sen and Lambo dropped half-a-sen to 7.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index expanded 94.44 points to 11,353.17, the FBMT 100 improved 90.18 points to 11,186.89 and the FBM 70 gained 133.69 points to 13,950.14.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index rose 148.82 points to 11,525.72 and the FBM Ace Index was up 53.34 points to 4,448.49.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 40.59 points to 16,578.79, the Plantation Index increased 19.30 points to 6,932.59 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.60 of-a-point better at 164.51.
Main Market volume declined to 1.35 billion shares worth RM1.94 billion from 1.81 billion shares worth RM2.30 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover decreased to 371.31 million units worth RM94.57 million from 390.11 million units worth RM97.75 million.
Volume on the ACE Market jumped to 829.93 million shares worth RM85.58 million from 618.18 million shares worth RM61.04 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 285.20 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (117.00 million), construction (205.00 million), technology (109.09 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (52.50 million), property (92.70 million), plantation (26.15 million), REITs (10.12 million), closed/fund (7,000), energy (316.33 million), healthcare (66.42 million), telecommunications and media (29.50 million), transportation and logistics (15.03 million), and utilities (25.09 million).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM168.62 per gramme, up 29 sen from RM168.33 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama
