KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia snapped a six-day losing streak by closing firmer today, with the benchmark index moving into positive territory spurred by buying support in index-linked counters such as CIMB and Public Bank, dealers said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 10.64 points to finish at 1,663.27 after fluctuating between 1,656.47 and 1,667.7 throughout the day.
Contributing a total of 6.825 points to the key index, CIMB soared 24 sen to RM5.75 after 13.74 million shares changed hands while Public Bank surged 40 sen to RM24.90 with 2.96 million shares transacted.
Gainers led losers 394 to 371, while 390 counters were unchanged, 750 untraded and 38 others suspended.
Total volume increased to 2.07 billion units worth RM1.94 billion from 1.43 billion units valued at RM1.51 billion recorded yesterday.
Maybank IB Research, in a note today, projected CIMB to record a faster earnings growth of 11% in financial year (FY) 2019.
The higher growth was on the back of more stable net interest margins and credit costs, leading to a recovery in return on average equity to 10% from 9.4% (excluding one-offs) in FY18, it said.
Meanwhile, a dealer said the uptrend on Bursa was in tandem with its regional peers’ performance amid improved market sentiment as investors were upbeat over an easing in trade tensions between the US and China.
Among heavyweights, Maybank eased five sen to RM9.29, Tenaga lost four sen to RM13.50, and Petronas Chemicals slipped one sen to RM9.17, but IHH Healthcare added 11 sen to RM5.60.
Of actives, MyEG shed 17 sen to 84 sen, Bumi Armada gained 1.5 sen to 17.5 sen, while Priceworth was flat at 4.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index was 7.08 points better at 11,406.61, the FBM Emas Index improved 51.19 points to 11,435.86 and the FBMT 100 Index edged up 53.59 points to 11,326.89.
However, the FBM Ace Index fell 13.47 points to 4,532.75, and the FBM 70 erased 11.4 points to 13,206.29.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index bolstered 151.12 points to 17,289.69 and the Plantation Index bagged 27.96 points to 6,660.48, but the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.24 of-a-point to 167.19.
Main Market volume increased to 1.41 billion shares worth RM1.81 billion from 980.18 million shares valued at RM1.41 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover advanced to 390.18 million units worth RM84.56 million from 286.99 million units valued at RM68.08 million.
Volume on the ACE Market widened to 267.68 million shares worth RM38.93 million compared with 161.23 million shares worth RM27.08 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 1.38 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (248.84 billion), construction (75.7 million), technology (337.53 million), SPAC (581,000), financial services (39.03 million), property (88.19 million), plantations (24.69 million), REITs (8.09 million), closed/fund (42,400), energy (289.07 million), healthcare (48.76 million), telecommunication and media (36.05 million), transportation and logistics (50.25 million), and utilities (22.45 million).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM161.98 per gramme, down 46 sen from RM162.44 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama
