KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended the day higher but overall market sentiment remained pressured with some pullback seen in toll concessionaire and construction companies involved in highway management.
At 5 pm, the benchmark ended 3.16 points or 0.18 per cent better at 1,724.58 against Friday’s close of 1,721.42.
After opening 0.92 of-a-point higher at 1,722.34, the FBM KLCI moved between 1,717.41 and 1,724.58 throughout the day.
A dealer said toll concessionaire and construction companies involved in highway management were impacted by the recent announcement that the government had commenced negotiations to acquire several highways in a move to abolish tolls.
Gamuda fell 18 sen to RM2.86 after the government announced that it has begun talks with the company to negotiate the acquisition of four highway concessions, in which the company had a majority stake.
Other toll concessionaires such as IJM Corp declined 11 sen to RM1.88, Ekovest shed 3.5 sen to 56.5 sen and Lingkaran Trans Kota Holdings lost 43 sen to RM4.17.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank added four sen to RM25.02, TNB rose six sen to RM13.50, Hong Leong Bank increased six sen to RM21.28, Maybank was flat at RM9.54, IHH Healthcare eased five sen to RM5.75 and Axiata decreased eight sen to RM4.17.
Petronas Chemicals jumped 13 sen to RM9.16 after recording a stronger financial year ended Dec 31, 2018.
Of actives, Dayang Enterprise surged 22.5 sen to RM1.02, Sapura Energy edged up half-a-sen to 32 sen, Perdana Petroleum added 3.5 sen to 32.5 sen, Bumi Armada was flat at 20 sen and Prestarian eased 1.5 sen to 43 sen.
Market breadth was negative with 481 losers to 386 gainers while 380 counters remained unchanged, 618 untraded and 34 others were suspended.
Total volume fell to 2.62 billion units, valued at RM2.15 billion, against 2.66 billion units, worth RM2.33 billion, transacted last Friday.
The FBM Emas Index decreased 1.56 points to 12,000.94, the FBMT 100 Index fell 2.46 points to 11,856.42 but the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 7.53 points to 11,960.64.
The FBM 70 trimmed 102.90 points to 14,312.56 and the FBM Ace Index erased 28.50 points to 4,686.98.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 2.08 points to 17,842.80, the Plantation Index advanced 13.92 points to 7,427.02 and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.01 points to 169.04.
Main Market volume was slightly lower at 1.82 billion shares, valued at RM1.98 billion, against 1.83 billion shares, valued at RM2.13 billion, previously.
Warrants’ turnover fell to 528.53 million units, worth RM109.99 million, versus Friday’s 567.94 million units valued at RM133.29 million.
Volume on the ACE Market decreased to 260.43 million shares, worth RM55.74 million, compared with 264.44 million shares, valued at RM65.31 million, recorded on Friday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 283.69 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (287.60 million), construction (205.54 million), technology (152.83 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (42.16 million), property (128.03 million), plantations (28.86 million), REITs (7.30 million), closed/fund (6,100), energy (566.38 million), healthcare (30.11 million), telecommunications and media (35.02 million), transportation and logistics (28.13 million) and utilities (26.62 million). — Bernama
