KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — Mild gains in utilities, transportation and telco heavyweights lifted Bursa Malaysia higher in early trade.
At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.0 points to 1,674.70 compared to yesterday’s close of 1,672.70.
At the opening, the index dropped 1.28 points to 1,671.42.
There are 95 gainers, 98 losers, 187 unchanged counters, 1,528 untraded and 97 suspended shares in the market.
Turnover stood at 99.13 million shares worth RM39.82 million
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects the mixed-to-lower market’s trend will prevail to the end of the week amid lack of fresh leads for market players to follow.
It said the mixed conditions are also expected to linger within the lower liners and broader market shares amid the lack of catalysts.
“This is expected to prolong the sideways trend as retail participation has also thinned substantially with the directionless market condition.
Malacca Securities said investors are waiting for signs of progress in the US-China trade negotiation as both President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping have arrived in Tokyo for the G20 meeting, where they are expected to meet.
Besides, the US-China trade war, leaders from the G20 are expected to discuss on the global financial crisis, trade protectionism and US-Iran rising tensions, among others.
In addition, leads from US stocks also suggested mild upside as the Dow eased 0.04 per cent to 26,526.58, while the S&P 500 rose 0.5 per cent to 2,924.92.
Among heavyweights, MISC was 18 sen higher to RM7.38, Digi was five sen higher at RM5.10 and Tenaga went up six sen to RM13.74.
Petronas Gas expanded 10 sen to RM17.20, while RHB Bank and MAHB gained four sen each to RM5.63 and RM8.54 respectively.
Maybank and PetChem, meanwhile, were unchanged at RM8.89 and RM8.38.
Among top-20 gainers, Gamuda added five sen to RM3.77 after said it had accepted the proposed offer by the Minister of Finance (Incorporated) (MOF Inc) to purchase all of the group’s equity stake in four tolled companies.
“The board of Gamuda will make the appropriate announcements in due course after going through the relevant due process with its respective associated companies and joint venture company,” it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
Of the actively-traded stocks, Greenyield advanced 3.5 sen to 16 sen, KNM was flat at 19 sen and Sapura Energy inched up half-a-sen to 30 sen.
Yesterday, Sapura Energy announced it has secured 10 new contracts for its engineering and construction and drilling segments worth RM1 billion across Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia, including Sapura Energy’s first offshore wind farm contract.
In addition, Sapura Energy was also selected for a frame agreement with Petronas for fixed offshore structure works.
The FBM Emas Index improved 9.59 points to 11,799.79, the FBMT 100 Index increased 9.91 points to 11,652.78 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 22.98 better at 12,154.22.
The FBM 70, however, edged lower by 3.75 points to 14,639.50 while the FBM Ace lost 11.48 points to 4,430.96.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shed 17.62 points to 16,691.61, and the Industrial Products & Services Index inched down 0.01 of-a-point to 160.69 and the Plantation Index eased 1.93 points to 6,964.35. — Bernama
