KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended marginally higher in cautious trading, with buying interspersed with profit-taking throughout the trading session, dealers said.
At the closing bell, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 0.26 of-a-point to close at 1,695.88 from Thursday’s close of 1,695.62.
After opening 0.85 of-a-point better at 1,696.47 this morning, the benchmark index moved in a tight range at between 1,689.14 and 1,696.54 throughout the day.
Market breadth, however, was negative, with losers thumping gainers 597 to 236, while 342 counters were unchanged, 733 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Volume decreased to 1.58 billion units worth RM1.10 billion from 1.75 billion units worth RM1.44 billion on Thursday.
The dealers said trading was cautious as investors dwelled on risks from a drawn-out trade dispute between the US and China, while Wall Street was closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and investors were struggling for direction.
Meanwhile, on the local front, last-minute buying of heavyweight stocks, such as Maybank, TNB and Hong Leong Bank, helped to lift the market.
Maybank gained three sen to RM9.42, TNB added two sen to RM14.80, Hong Leong Bank rose 10 sen to RM20.68 while Public Bank was flat at RM24.80.
Petronas Chemicals and CIMB fell two sen each to RM9.22 and RM5.63 respectively.
For active stocks, MyEG increased two sen to RM1.12, Sanichi improved one sen to 16 sen while Hibiscus Petroleum and Bumi Armada fell one sen each to RM1.02 and 32 sen respectively.
The FBM Emas Index lost 17.27 points to 11,778.89, the FBMT 100 Index shed 9.81 points to 11,629.61 and the FBM 70 declined 56.39 points to 13,873.95.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 20.94 points lower at 11,835.82 but the FBM Ace Index was 93.13 points weaker at 4,940.19.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index improved 22.13 points to 17,314.59, the Plantation Index rose 5.31 points to 7,182.15 while the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.51 of-a-point easier at 172.46
Main Market volume narrowed to 947.74 million shares worth RM977.02 million from 1.15 billion shares worth RM1.30 billion on Thursday.
Warrants turnover fell to 290.68 million units valued at RM68.38 million from 334.03 million units valued at RM83.11 million.
Volume on the ACE Market swelled to 338.11 million shares worth RM58.20 million from 266.43 million shares worth RM57.56 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 120.46 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (199.06 million), construction (94.92 million), technology (148.12 million), SPAC (1,000), financial services (17.36 million), property (64.67 million), plantations (18.60 million), REITs (3.39 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (164.63 million), healthcare (14.75 million), telecommunication and media (51.98 million), transportation and logistics (33.31 million), and utilities (16.48 million).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM159.42 per gramme, down 76 sen from RM160.18 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama
