KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — Bursa Malaysia bucked most of its regional peers to close higher on the last two trading days of 2019, propelled by further year-end window dressing amidst price hikes in both crude palm oil and crude oil.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) climbed 5.06 points, or 0.31 per cent, to finish at 1,615.67 compared with last Friday’s close of 1,610.61, with the key index moving between 1,608.76 and 1,617.43 throughout the day.
The benchmark index opened 1.16 points easier at 1,609.45.
Market breadth continued to stay positive, with gainers beating losers 460 to 378, while 409 counters were unchanged, 730 untraded and 45 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 2.34 billion shares worth RM1.63 billion versus 2.23 billion shares worth RM1.47 billion last Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of research Vincent Lau said the rally in CPO prices, which breached the RM3,000 mark per tonne, along with benchmark Brent crude oil price which rose to US$US$68.33 a barrel in the mid-afternoon trading session, had sent the plantation and energy-linked counters higher today.
“Malaysia’s economy is heavily reliant on commodities, so the increase in both CPO and crude oil prices had boosted buying interest in the related stocks,” he told Bernama.
Earlier today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said in a morning note that the gains on the local bourse would be supported by the spikes in CPO prices, which surged above RM3,000 per tonne, and West Texas Intermediate crude oil, which advanced to a three-month high last Friday.
Among heavyweights, plantation-linked counters such as KLK bagged 30 sen to RM25.10 while Sime Darby Plantation advanced 10 sen to RM5.56, oil and gas counters like Petronas Chemicals increased four sen to RM7.40 and Petronas Dagangan firmed 18 sen to RM23.30, while utility counter Tenaga gained 28 sen to RM13.54.
Of the actives, palm oil-linked counters TDM perked six sen to 40.5 sen and Rimbunan Sawit was 5.5 sen better at 45 sen, Astral Asia climbed 3.5 sen to 18.5 sen, Dynaciate ticked up half-a-sen to eight sen while Sapura Energy slipped half-a-sen to 27 sen.
Top gainer Dutch Lady propped up 80 sen to RM50 while top loser F&N retreated 58 sen to RM34.00.
The FBM 70 garnered 66.59 points to 14,249.62, the FBMT 100 Index elevated 39.42 points to 11,266.08 and the FBM Ace was 64.87 points higher at 5,190.13.
The FBM Emas Index advanced 41.95 points to 11,472.54 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 35.23 points firmer at 12,090.27.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index leapt 135.31 points to 7,849.64, the Financial Services Index jumped 57.72 points to 15,706.30 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.05 point to 153.83.
Main Market volume rose to 1.72 billion shares worth RM1.48 billion from 1.63 billion shares worth RM1.33 billion last Friday.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 242.02 million units valued at RM42.99 million against 250.82 million units valued at RM44.11 billion previously.
Volume on the ACE Market went up to 375.15 million shares worth RM115.09 million as compared with 345.89 million shares worth RM92.36 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 188.53 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (269.66 million), construction (161.29 million), technology (134.71 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (28.75 million), property (119.76 million), plantations (344.78 million), REITs (4.65 million), closed/fund (31,200), energy (363.07 million), healthcare (10.84 million), telecommunications and media (38.50 million), transportation and logistics (30.58 million), and utilities (30.12 million). — Bernama
