KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 — Last-minute buying in selected heavyweights pushed the local benchmark to close in positive territory today, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 5.22 points higher at 1,877.05, after moving between 1,867.78 and 1,877.05 throughout the day.
A dealer said most of the Southeast Asian stock markets rose today boosted by strong reading of Chinese manufacturing data, which also lifted the broader sentiment, while better-than-expected earnings bolstered shares of PT Bank Central Asia Tbk and Big C Super center Pcl.
“China’s factory sector expanded at its fastest pace in 18 months in July, helping Asian stocks edge higher while investors in Indonesia appeared to shift focus from the presidential election to solid quarterly corporate results,” he said.
Earlier this week, Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo was declared the winner of the presidential election, putting to rest much speculation around the result in the last few days.
On the scoreboard, the Finance Index dipped 62.9 points to 17,328.9, while the Plantation Index advanced 36.58 points to 9,063.58 and the Industrial Index rose 16.81 points to 3,247.88.
The FBM Emas Index improved 28.43 points to 13,102.28, FBMT100 Index added 29.14 points to 12,681.47, the FBM 70 gained 9.36 points to 14,379.6 and the FBM Ace perked up 3.91 points to 7,058.66.
Losers led gainers by 436 to 425, with 338 counters unchanged, 436 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Total volume decreased to 2.03 billion units valued at RM1.99 billion from 2.33 billion units valued at RM2.06 billion transacted yesterday. — Bernama
