KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Bursa Malaysia ended slightly higher today as last-minute selling in selected heavyweights limited gains, dealers said.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 1.27 points at 1,665.71, after hovering between 1,663.76 and 1,673.26 throughout the day.
Market breadth however was slightly positive as gainers led losers 451 to 395, while 343 counters were unchanged, 613 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Volume decreased to 2.12 billion shares worth RM2.04billion from 2.17 billion shares valued at RM2.28 billion on Thursday.
Regionally, a dealer said that Asian stock markets were mostly lower on renewed concerns over expectations that the US Federal Reserve would increase interest rates by year-end.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index jumped 147.39 points to 19,083.10, China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 4.75 points to 3,382.56, while Singapore’s Strait Times Index slipped 4.46 points to 2,997.05.
British American Tobacco and Rapid Synergy ended the day among the top losers, declining 42 sen and 31 sen each to RM61.82 and RM5.91 respectively, while PPB Group lost 26 sen to RM15.46.
Top gainers included Asia File Corp (+39 sen to RM4.49), Lay Hong (+39 sen to RM5.80) and Dutch Lady (+36 sen to RM47.60).
Of the heavyweights, Maybank dipped five sen to RM8.26, TNB and Public Bank were flat at RM12.66 and RM18.08 respectively, while Axiata added one sen to RM6.17.
Among actives, RGB International rose one sen to 18 sen, XOX gained four sen to 31 sen, Inix Technologies earned half-a-sen to 13.5 sen while Genetec Technology was flat at 20.5 sen.
On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index added 0.74 point to 11,573.90, the FBM Emas Syariah Index improved 5.57 points to 12,392.83, and the FBM Ace Index gained 3.69 points to 6,214.05.
The FBM 70 Index increased 20.87 points to 12,767.61 but the FBMT100 Index dropped 2.23 points to 11,256.03.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index slid 26.10 points to 14,161.21, the Industrial Index contracted 20.86 points to 3,306.65 and the Plantation Index eased 0.61 point to 7,540.21.
Main Market volume rose to 1.23 billion units worth RM1.87 billion from 1.07 billion units worth RM2.07 billion on Thursday.
Turnover on the ACE Market narrowed to 599.91 million shares worth RM123.70 million from 696.54 million shares valued at RM148.82 million.
Warrants decreased to 294.79 million units valued at RM48.61 million from 400.24 million units worth RM60.93 million yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 93.63 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (196.24 million), construction (65.14 million), trade and services (512.05 million), technology (89.93 million), infrastructure (16.95 million), SPAC (8.40 million), finance (53.92 million), hotels (2.68 million), properties (154.80 million), plantations (25.72 million), mining (103,300), REITs (9.23 million), and closed/fund (21,000). — Bernama
