KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Bursa Malaysia finished marginally higher in choppy trading today, as overall investor sentiment remained cautious amid rising US-China tensions coupled with the Covid-19 infection rate that was showing no signs of slowing down globally.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ticked up 1.87 points to 1,591.48 from 1,589.61 at the close last Friday.
The key index, which opened 5.07 points firmer at 1,594.68, hovered between 1,585.84 and 1,595.0 throughout the day.
Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 582 to 505, while 378 counters were unchanged, 544 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Trading volume surged to 11.61 billion units valued at RM6.23 billion compared with 9.88 billion units worth RM5.18 billion last Friday.
Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Victor Wan said the rising Covid-19 woes had resulted in cautious trading sentiment across the board.
“Meanwhile, there is also a lack of fresh market leads for market participants, making them wait for more corporate earnings announcements for the April to June quarter for further investment directions,” he told Bernama.
Overall, Wan said healthcare and glove counters remained attractive, particularly for retail market participants who favoured the lower-liner stocks.
Of the heavyweights, glovemaker Hartalega bagged 62 sen to RM18.30 and fellow industry player Top Glove advanced 44 sen to RM25.44, while KLK surged RM1.18 to RM23.88, Tenaga was six sen firmer at RM11.30 and Sime Darby added five sen to RM2.18.
Of the actives, XOX gained 6.5 sen to 24.5 sen, Iris increased three sen to 32.5 sen, PDZ and Borneo Oil rose one sen each to 16 sen and 4.5 sen respectively, while Nexgram was half-a-sen higher at six sen.
The top gainers list was led by Kossan which soared RM2.90 to RM16.70. Bursa shot up 62 sen to RM10.42, propelled by the impressive trading volume which exceeded 11 billion units today.
Other top gainers included Careplus which leapt 58 sen to RM3.04, Comfort which picked up 53 sen to RM4.73 and Pharmaniaga which added 38 sen to RM4.01.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 50.83 points to 11,323.01, the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 45.31 points to 11,159.36 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 126.81 points firmer at 13,224.86.
The FBM 70 lifted 185.14 points to 14,339.42 and the FBM ACE was 366.11 points higher at 8,264.17.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index strengthened 47.08 points to 7,162.11, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.47 of-a-point to 140.12 while the Financial Services Index fell 59.56 points to 13,358.08.
Main Market volume widened to 5.56 billion shares worth RM4.20 billion versus 4.06 billion shares worth RM3.59 billion last Friday.
Warrants turnover, meanwhile, slipped to 770.38 billion units valued at RM289.80 million from 773.90 million units worth RM251.70 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market improved to 5.27 billion shares worth RM1.74 billion compared with 5.04 billion shares worth RM1.33 billion previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 1.12 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.55 billion), construction (258.80 million), technology (820.31 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (41.35 million), property (239.52 million), plantations (209.17 million), REITs (9.06 million), closed/fund (58,000), energy (436.56 million), healthcare (165.18 million), telecommunications and media (144.60 million), transportation and logistics (517.08 million) and utilities (39.44 million). — Bernama
