KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — Bursa Malaysia settled higher today at the start of the fourth quarter, buoyed by buying interest in the broader market while tracking the firmer opening in the US equity futures market, analysts said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.35 per cent or 5.53 points to 1,589.44 from yesterday’s close of 1,583.91.
The index, which opened 1.03 points higher at 1,584.94, traded between 1,583.84 and 1,589.64 throughout the day.
The market breadth was positive as gainers outpaced losers 438 to 297, with 391 counters unchanged, 831 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover eased to 1.79 billion shares worth RM1.26 billion from 1.85 billion shares valued at RM1.49 billion yesterday.
Online equity broker Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd’s head of research Kenny Yee hopes that the positive start to the fourth quarter was a good sign for the upcoming tabling of the Budget 2020.
“We think investors are likely to look forward to an expansionary budget now that huge construction projects start to roll again. This is important as it will also boost investors’ confidence,” he told Bernama.
Yee also said the extension of another six months granted by FTSE Russell recently for Malaysian bonds to stay on the World Government Bond Index was also positive in reducing some of the uncertainties.
“Moving forward, we think the benchmark index should rebound to trade above the 1,600 level as it has already reached its bottom,” he added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose eight sen to RM8.59 and Tenaga added six sen to RM13.70, while Public Bank fell eight sen to RM20.00 and PChem eased three sen to RM7.51. IHH was flat at RM5.68.
As for the actives, Bumi Armada declined half-a-sen to 32 sen, Eduspec lost half-a-sen to 3.5 sen and MNC was flat at 6.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index advanced 32.31 points to 11,236.02, the FBMT 100 Index gained 29.47 points to 11,067.30 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 32.31 points better at 11,236.02.
The FBM 70, however, dropped 0.08 of-a-point to 13,92.99 but the FBM ACE bagged 36.70 points to 4,531.82.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index strengthened 56.74 points to 15,366.46 and the Plantation Index was up 50.22 points to 6,770.74 but the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.08 of-a-point weaker at 153.20.
Main Market volume decreased to 1.15 billion units valued at RM1.18 billion from Monday’s 1.13 billion units worth RM1.36 billion.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 101.19 million valued at RM9.8 million from 324.27 million worth RM69.64 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market fell to 536.82 million shares worth RM78.19 million from 393.17 million shares valued at RM61.83 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 145.03 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (236.12 million), construction (60.58 million), technology (97.44 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (24.36 million), property (84.41 million), plantations (8.46 million), REITs (29.74 million), closed/fund (46,000), energy (297.13 million), healthcare (16.85 million), telecommunications and media (111.38 million), transportation and logistics (33.71 million), and utilities (11.57 million). — Bernama
