KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished at its intra-day high today with the benchmark composite index rising 0.17% as investors’ optimism was uplifted by Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) move to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR).
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rebounded 2.66 points to close at 1,578.33 from Wednesday’s close of 1,575.67.
The barometer index opened 3.58 points weaker at 1,572.09 and moved between 1,556.0 and 1,578.33 throughout the day.
However, market breadth remained negative with losers surpassing gainers 772 to 369, while 399 counters were unchanged, 616 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Total volume fell to 6.20 billion shares worth RM4.6 billion from 7.37 billion shares worth RM4.24 billion on Wednesday.
The financial services index increased 0.09% at the close today, with most banking stocks trading higher, due to BNM keeping the OPR status quo.
Among the banking heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM8.23, CIMB rose five sen to RM4.11, HLFG added 24 sen to RM16.72 and RHB advanced three sen to RM5.18, bute Hong Leong Bank fell six sen to RM17.60 and Public Bank lost two sen to RM4.09.
Plantation stocks continued their uptrend since mid-afternoon with the market index putting on 1.09%, while the transportation and logistics index rebounded to finish 1.34% stronger.
The positive performance of the FBM KLCI was also in tandem with those of its regional peers.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei Index rose 1.80% to 29,331.37, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index picked up 0.77% to 28,637.46, Singapore’s Straits Times Index firmed 0.56% to 3,171.23, and South Korea’s Kospi bagged 1.0% to 3,178.74.
Among the 30 FBM KLCI component stocks, PetChem increased three sen to RM8.19, TNB added two sen to RM9.92 and Top Glove lost 26 sen to RM5.06.
Of the actives, Focus Dynamics declined one sen to nine sen, Malaysian Bulk Carriers gained 9.5 sen to 82 sen, and Dataprep and Tanco rose one sen each to RM1.96 and 10 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 8.68 points lower at 11,596.16, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 12.05 points to 12,993.84, the FBMT 100 Index shed 0.67 of-a-point to 11,255.73, the FBM 70 slid 76.75 points to 15,204.86, and the FBM ACE lost 194.18 points to 8,275.76.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.39 of-a-point to 198.68, the Plantation Index rose 75.51 points to 6,992.36, and the Financial Services Index added 12.47 points to 14,768.63.
Main Market volume fell to 3.93 billion shares worth RM3.79 billion compared with 4.53 billion shares worth RM3.39 billion on Wednesday.
Warrants turnover increased to 412.76 million units valued at RM45.83 million from 350.10 million units valued at RM35.01 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 1.86 billion shares worth RM615.97 million from 2.49 billion shares worth RM812.4 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 531.72 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.43 billion), construction (141.26 million), technology (394.94 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (54.03 million), property (341.58 million), plantation (167.95 million), REITs (6.53 million), closed/fund (20,900), energy (253.73 million), healthcare (213.46 million), telecommunications and media (58.78 million), transportation and logistics (309.43 million), and utilities (26.96 million). — Bernama
