KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to finish marginally higher today, dealers said.
A dealer said the gains, however, were pared by mild profit-taking. At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.92 points to end at 1,688.54 after moving between 1,679.91 and 1,696.99 throughout the day. Gainers thumped losers by 453 to 412 while 354 counters were unchanged, 567 untraded and 17 others were suspended.
Volume fell to 2.18 billion shares worth RM2.17 billion from 2.67 billion shares worth RM2.47 billion yesterday.
Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd Head of Research, Pong Teng Siew, said most regional stocks fell as US Federal Reserve kept the doors open to an interest rate increase in December.
Against this backdrop, the market gained renewed optimism on expectations that the government-owned fund manager, ValueCap Sdn Bhd, will start to invest in the equity market in late November or early December.
“Investors are hopeful and this had restored their confidence and helped to keep the sentiment upbeat,” he told Bernama.
Pong said persistent buying interest in penny stocks had also contributed to an increase in stock prices for the past few days.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index went up 21.18 points to 11,732.74, FBM Emas Syariah Index advanced 48.97 points to 12,565.94 and the FBM Ace Index improved 42.73 points to 6,403.88.
The FBM 70 Index chalked up 40.33 points to 6,403.88 and the FBMT100 Index rose 23.46 points to 11,411.23.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index decreased 6.72 points to 14,333.14, Industrial Index fell 12.47 points to 3,319.81 and the Plantation Index rose 27.58 points to 7,632.54.
Of heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.38, TNB surged 56 sen to RM13.20, Public Bank gained two sen to RM18.20.
IHH eased two sen to RM6.58.
Among actives, Sanichi Technology gained one sen to 9.5 sen, Ho Wah rose five sen to 13 sen, RGB International edged up 1.5 sen to 19.5 sen and The Media Shoppe inched up half-a-sen to 11 sen.
Main Market volume fell to 1.36 billion units worth RM2.03 billion from 1.73 billion units worth RM2.29 billion on Wednesday.
Turnover on the ACE Market declined to 553.91 million shares worth RM98.09 million from 589.75 million shares worth RM127.08 yesterday.
Warrants decreased to 269.52 million units valued at RM42.34 million from 349.43 million units valued at RM51.33 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 107.61 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (318.74 million), construction (102.68 million), trade and services (521.84 million), technology (62.08 million), infrastructure (16.67 million), SPAC (5.88 million), finance (35.44 million), hotels (1.20 million), properties (145.15 million), plantations (32.98 million), mining (12,900), REITs (9.02 million), and closed/fund (75,000). — Bernama
