KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia close higher today, lifted by bargain-hunting activities amid technical rebound, a dealer said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 11.58 points to 1,823.5, after hovering between 1,808.79 and 1,823.5 throughout the day.
A dealer told Bernama that the local stock market was not taking the cue from the US economy and was moving on its own direction.
On the local front, the market was in the midst of positive sentiments from last Friday’s 2015 first quarter Gross Domestic Product announcement, coupled with the upcoming 11th Malaysia Plan (RMK-11) to be unveiled by the government on Thursday.
“Sectors that might see improvements in the local bourse include property, education and training sectors,” he said.
On gainers, Petronas Gas came out on top, rising RM1.56 or 7.12 per cent to RM23.48, TNB increased 36 sen or 2.56 per cent to RM14.30, while Kuala Lumpur Kepong increased 24 sen or 1.09 per cent to RM22.30.
On other scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index rose 77.77 points to 12,573.72, the FBMT100 Index improved 78.94 points to 12,250.27 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index increased 116.03 points to 13,112.88.
The FBM 70 gained 92.15 points to 13,628.26 and the FBM Ace perked 131 points to 7,193.56.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index expanded 62.43 points to 3,336.48 while the Plantation Index went up 39.1 points to 7,556.81.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers by 459 to 347 with 301 counters unchanged, 698 counters untraded and 18 others suspended.
Total volume rose to 2.2 billion shares worth RM1.78 billion from 1.74 billion units worth RM1.84 billion on Friday.
Among the most active counters, Frontken increased 4.5 sen to 31.5 sen, Kanger lost half-a-sen to 21.5 sen while Malakoff and Hubline were both flat at RM1.80 and two sen, respectively.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank was up four sen to RM9.36, TNB increased 36 sen to RM14.30, Public Bank advanced four sen to RM19.24, while Axiata was flat at RM6.75 and Sime Darby lost five sen to RM8.99.
Main Market volume improved to 1.33 billion shares worth RM1.55 billion from Friday’s 1.1 billion shares worth RM1.67 billion.
Turnover on the ACE Market widened to 778.71 million shares valued at RM203.48 million from 553.73 million shares valued at RM150.76 million, previously.
Warrants increased to 88.48 million units worth RM22.84 million from 83.24 million units worth RM23.69 million on Friday.
Consumer products accounted for 70.46 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (283.67 million), construction (87.83 million), trade and services (693.77 million), technology (56.88 million), infrastructure (14.83 million), SPAC (5.97 million), finance (43.32 million), hotels (1.09 million), properties (50.97 million), plantations (11.98 million), mining (38,600), REITs (12.22 million) and closed/fund (10,000). — Bernama
