Bursa closes higher on continuous buying support, CI up 21.33 points

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — Bursa Malaysia ended on a firmer note today on continuous buying support for selected heavyweights, amid bargain hunting activities and positive regional market sentiments, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 21.33 points to end at 1,803.08, after hovering between 1,788.78 and 1,809.33 throughout the day.

A dealer said the local equity market was reacting to the recent announcement of the revised budget, which in turn helped boost the upward trend.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index went up 182.73 points to 17,511.75, Korea’s Seoul Composite rose 15.27 points to 1,936.09, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 170.05 points to 24,522.63.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index increased 127.31 points to 12,412.1, the FBMT100 Index was up 129.71 points to 12,110.23, and the FBM 70 rose 91.76 points to 13,461.15.

The FBM Ace increased 41.2 points to 6,360.6 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index improved 161.79 points to 13,002.05.

On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index gained 27.69 points to 3,289.84, the Plantation Index advanced 10.77 points to 7,932.09, and the Finance Index garnered 106.92 points to 15,676.29.

Gainers trounced losers by 534 to 365, while 310 counters were unchanged, 525 untraded and seven others suspended.

Total volume rose to 2.61 billion units worth RM3.13 billion from 2.58 billion units worth RM2.87 billion yesterday.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank improved 13 sen to RM9, TNB was up 58 sen to RM15.10, Public Bank advanced 30 sen to RM18.14, Axiata bagged six sen to RM7.21 and Sime Darby gained four sen to RM9.56.

Among actives, KNM Group gained four sen to 62.5 sen, Systech increased 4.5 sen to 36.5 sen, Sanichi and The Media Shoppe fell half-a-sen each to 9.5 sen and 5.5 sen respectively, while Hubline was flat at four sen.

Main Market volume declined to 1.77 billion units worth RM2.94 billion from 1.86 billion units worth RM2.69 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE Market increased to 692.73 million shares valued at RM155.91 million from 534.15 million shares valued at RM127.28 million previously.

Warrants narrowed to 150.19 million units worth RM32.04 million from 176.68 million units worth RM46.26 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 171.53 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (304.22 million), construction (79.51 million), trade and services (810.13 million), technology (120.59 million), infrastructure (20.38 million), SPAC (28.67 million), finance (94.53 million), hotels (2.14 million), properties (93.16 million), plantations (20.79 million), mining (94,800), REITs (22.09 million) and closed/fund (41,100). — Bernama