KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the positive territory at mid-afternoon as investors focus on the government’s additional assistance for small and medium enterprises affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
At 3.02pm, key index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 9.85 points, or 0.74 per cent to 1,340.50 from 1,330.65 at Friday’s close.
The key index opened 1.96 points firmer at 1,332.61.
On the scoreboard, gainers led losers 619 to 191, while 293 counters were unchanged, 818 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 3.91 billion worth RM1.55 billion.
In its research note, MIDF said foreign net selling on the local bourse continued to slow down last week.
“Based on Bursa Malaysia’s data, international investors sold RM486.0 million net of local equities last week compared to RM631.9 million net disposed in the preceding week.
“Compared to six other Asian peers that we monitor, Malaysia remains as the nation with the third smallest foreign net outflow on a year-to-date basis at RM8.12 billion,” it said.
Foreign net selling decelerated to RM96.8 million on Thursday following United States President Donald Trump’s expectation that Saudi Arabia and Russia would announce a deal on an oil production cut, resulting in Brent crude oil price rising by 28.0 per cent to US$29.9 per barrel — the largest single-day gain in history.
Meanwhile, of the heavyweights, Maybank increased 26 sen to RM7.66, Public Bank appreciated 24 sen to RM15.94, Tenaga was flat RM11.92 while IHH slipped one sen to RM5.01.
The top three most active counters were from the energy sector — Hibiscus Petroleum rose 5.5 sen to 50.5 sen, Sapura Energy added 1.5 sen to 11 sen and Bumi Armada was 1.5 sen higher at 18.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 87.21 points to 9,262.59, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 51.47 points to 10,112.91 and the FBMT 100 Index was 78.64 points higher at 9,167.29.
The FBM 70 jumped 139.73 points to 10,849.79 and the FBM Ace increased 93 points to 3,910.31.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.80 of-a-point to 106.04, the Financial Services Index soared 209.16 points to 12,261.15 while the Plantation Index eased 16.59 points to 6,123.05. — Bernama
