Bursa Malaysia closes higher as Bank of Japan eases strain

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Bursa Malaysia closed higher as the market breathed a sigh of relief after the Bank of Japan decided to maintain interest rates and modify its policy framework at its two-day policy meeting which ended today.

Under the modification, the central bank will buy long-term government bonds to keep 10-year bond yields at the current zero per cent in a move to strengthen the Japanese economy.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed at 1,658.73, up 2.95 points, against yesterday’s close of 1,655.78.

After opening 2.06 points lower at 1,653.72 this morning, the local index hovered between 1,652.73 and 1,659.21 throughout the day.

Gainers led losers 460 to 328 while 382 counters were unchanged, 520 untraded and 20 others were suspended.

Volume was higher at 1.7 billion units, worth RM1.88 billion, from 1.39 billion units, valued at RM1.7 billion, registered yesterday.

A dealer said the Bank of Japan’s move came as a welcome relief for risk asset markets, as well as, to investors who were concerned about the limits of easing of major central banks considering the fact that the global economy was showing little sign of rebounding.

“Markets will now be watching out for the outcome of the US Federal Reserve policy meeting and clues on its rate outlook,” he added.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index added 34.84 points to 11,714.45, the FBMT100 Index gained 34.31 points to 11,417.1 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 29.01 points better at 12,343.79.

The FBM 70 soared 92.02 points to 13,713.1 but the FBM Ace inched down 22.25 points to 5,220.05.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index lost 7.84 points to 14,221.95, the Plantation Index perked 40.47 points to 7,475.59, and the Industrial Index rose 4.5 points to 3,103.6.

Of heavyweights, TNB was flat at RM14.40, Maybank fell four sen to RM7.76, Public Bank declined six sen to RM19.50 and IHH was nine sen lower at RM6.49.

Among actives, FGV rose 16 sen to RM2.41, Lion Diversified was unchanged at six sen and AirAsia inched up 10 sen to RM2.80.

Main market turnover improved to 1.04 billion units, worth RM1.76 billion, from 880.3 million units, worth RM1.6 billion, yesterday.

The ACE Market volume was higher at 252.05 million shares, valued at RM30.96 million, from 166.29 million shares, valued at RM29.52 million, registered yesterday.

Warrants swelled to 407.59 million units valued at RM82.24 million, from 347.12 million units, worth RM65.4 million, recorded yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 44.56 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (340.04 million), construction (47.69 million), trade and services (351.72 million), technology (40.63 million), infrastructure (10.21 million), SPAC (42.12 million), finance (61.3 million), hotels (228,000), properties (53.6 million), plantations (43.83 million), mining (nil), REITs (6.35 million) and closed/fund (13,800). — Bernama