KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia closed mixed to higher today on the back of persistent buying momentum in small capitalised and penny stocks amid positive sentiment brought about by strong local economic data, dealers said.
At close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia (FBM KLCI) finished 2.73 points firmer at 1,864.31, up 2.73 points, after fluctuating between 1,860.22 and 1,864.62 points throughout the day.
Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 6.4 per cent in the second quarter against 6.2 per cent registered in the first quarter of the year, driven by higher exports and continued strength in private domestic demand.
Following this, the central bank has revised upwards the economic growth projection for 2014 to exceed 5.5 per cent from an earlier forecast of between 4.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent.
On the scoreboard, the Finance Index rose 31.26 points to 17,291.78, the Industrial Index increased 16.45 points to 3,257.42 but the Plantation Index fell 40.7 points to 8,869.3.
The FBM Emas Index was 23.18 points higher at 13,058.35, FBMT100 Index advanced 22 points to 12,613.68, the FBM Ace chalked up 49.94 points to 7,282.74 and the FBM 70 perked 38.6 points to 14,373.27.
Losers slightly outnumbered gainers 439 to 407 while 336 counters were unchanged, 446 untraded and 19 others were suspended.
Total volume decreased to 3.41 billion units, worth RM2.34 billion, from 3.95 billion units, worth RM2.58 billion, transacted yesterday.
Among actives, PDZ Holdings eased 1.5 sen to 27 sen, Sumatec Resources was flat at 55 sen while newly-listed Reach Energy finished at 70.5 sen after opening at 72.5 sen over its initial offer price of 75 sen.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd issued an unusual market activity query to PMB Technology Bhd as a result of a sharp increase in the company’s shares.
The counter rose 39 sen or 27.47 per cent to RM1.81 with 6.381 million lots traded.
Of heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM10.04, Public Bank and TNB gained two sen each to RM19.14 and RM12.32, respectively, CIMB improved three sen to RM6.96 but Axiata shed two sen to RM6.95.
The Main Market volume decreased to 2.16 billion units, worth RM2.09 billion, from 2.9 billion units, worth RM2.42 billion, registered yesterday.
Turnover on the ACE Market shrank to 635.59 million shares, valued at RM112.79 million, from yesterday’s 985.42 million shares valued at RM149.88 million.
Warrants climbed to 604.86 million units, worth RM142.06 million, from 40.74 million units, worth RM6.05 million, recorded yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 157.55 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (437.03 million), construction (88.39 million), trade and services (836.23 million), technology (68.82 million), infrastructure (16.25 million), SPAC (320.04 million), finance (52.01 million), hotels (1.15 million), properties (163.35 million), plantations (16.16 million), mining (5,000), REITs (6.09 million), and closed/fund (39,900). — Bernama
