KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — Bursa Malaysia snapped three days of losses to close at its intraday high today, lifted by the eleventh hour bargain-hunting activities in index-linked counters after moving in negative territory for most of the day.
A dealer said the late buying interest was seen in component index stocks such as Hong Leong Financial and Dialog.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.16 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 1,574.09 from Monday’s close of 1,570.93.
After opening 0.66 of-a-point easier at 1,570.27, the key index hovered between 1,567.70 and 1,574.09 throughout the day.
The last-minute buying spree pushed the volume to surge to 3.28 billion shares worth RM2.09 billion from 2.27 billion shares worth RM1.47 billion on Monday.
Market breadth, however, remained negative with losers leading gainers 452 to 411, while 384 counters remained unchanged, 770 untraded and 35 others suspended.
The dealer said the positive performance on the local bourse was also in line with the uptrend in the regional markets amid rising optimism over the U.S.-China trade talks.
“US President Donald Trump has praised the trade talks progress, and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng also gave similar upbeat remarks.
“The comments of both leaders had sent a very encouraging signal to the market,” he said.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index improved 0.78 per cent to 3,163.74, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 0.23 per cent better at 26,786.20 and South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index advanced 1.16 per cent to 2,088.86.
Among the heavyweights, Hong Leong Financial, which is also the top gainer, surged 70 sen to RM17.02, Dialog accumulated seven sen to RM3.52, Petronas Gas bagged 14 sen to RM16.80, IHH was three sen higher at RM5.69, and IOI Corp increased four sen to RM4.29.
Of the actives, Bumi Armada fell eight sen to 40 sen, Sapura Engery trimmed half-a-sen to 26 sen, MTAG eased three sen to 51 sen, NetX was flat at two sen, while IFCA MSC was five sen higher at 43.5 sen.
The FBM 70 fell 25.83 points to 14,093.43, while the FBMT 100 Index strengthened 12.03 points to 11,015.23 and the FBM Ace rose 13.48 points to 4,844.89.
The FBM Emas Index elevated 10.09 points to 11,202.39 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index garnered 20.18 points to 11,828.83.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 28.18 points to 15,249.38, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 0.40 of-a-point to 153.04, but the Plantation Index was 15.77 points weaker at 6,623.70.
Main Market volume widened to 2.13 billion shares worth RM1.81 billion from 1.42 billion shares worth RM1.23 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover increased to 325.44 million units valued at RM56.96 million from 319.83 million units valued at RM61.92 million.
Volume on the ACE Market, however, reduced to 828.88 million shares worth RM220.27 million from 829.37 million shares worth RM178.51 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 248.20 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (210.39 million), construction (104.10 million), technology (290.80 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (42.63 million), property (108.51 million), plantations (21.25 million), REITs (12.38 million), closed/fund (3,500), energy (934.94 million), healthcare (10.79 million), telecommunications and media (92.83 million), transportation and logistics (30.64 million), and utilities (25.01 million). — Bernama
