KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Bursa Malaysia recovered from earlier losses to finish at an intra-day high, lifted by bargain-hunting in certain index-linked stocks which kicked in at the eleventh hour.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 2.94 points, or 0.19 per cent higher at 1,519.32 from yesterday’s close of 1,515.38.
The key index gained 2.21 points to 1,518.50 at the opening, and proceeded to trade on a range-bound mode between 1,494.19 and 1,519.32 throughout the day.
However, market breadth was negative with losers thumping gainers 867 to 309, while 329 counters were unchanged, 518 untraded and 23 others suspended.
Total volume widened to 9.03 billion shares worth RM4.57 billion from 6.97 billion shares worth RM3.42 billion on Monday.
Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer and fund manager Danny Wong Teck Meng believed last minute buying in heavyweights such as IHH, Maybank, Axiata and Tenaga by institutional investors was strong enough to support the index to close higher today.
“However, market breadth was still negative. Typically, September is a quite month for the FBM KLCI, as investors tend to stay on the sidelines before a slew of announcements are made in the coming weeks, including Bank Negara Malaysia and several European central banks’ monetary policy announcements”, he told Bernama.
Apart from that, Wong said traders are also waiting for more leads from the upcoming 2021 Budget, and to see whether Malaysian bonds will still remain on the FTSE Russell’s World Government Bond Index (WGBI) watch list in September.
“To me, the recent sell-down is seen as a healthy correction as it allows more market players to participate in the equity market,” he added.
At the close, heavyweights IHH rose 39 sen to RM5.68, Maybank advanced 24 sen to RM7.50, Axiata was 19 sen better at RM3.22, Tenaga climbed 26 sen to RM11.32 and Petronas Dagangan put on 86 sen to RM21.68.
Top gainers included Nestle which jumped RM1.10 to RM142.10, F&N which expanded 58 sen to RM32.20 and Batu Kawan which added 36 sen to RM15.56.
The top losers list was dominated by rubber glove manufacturers, led by Kossan which erased RM1.20 to RM12.50, Top Glove which retreated 64 sen to RM7.64, Hartalega which shrank 40 sen to RM13.60 and Supermax which fell 59 sen to RM8.41.
Of the actives, Fintec slid one sen to 12.5 sen, Evergreen rose 7.5 sen to 33.5 sen, while Pegasus Heights, Trive Property and XOX were flat at three sen, two sen and 23 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 25.55 points to 10,922.07 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 81.11 points to 12,873.10.
The FBM 70 dipped 183.53 points to 14,109.76, the FBMT 100 Index was 19.52 points lower at 10,733.74 and the FBM ACE sank 283.30 points to 10,390.72.
Sector-wise, the Healthcare Index saw the biggest fall by losing 149.64 points to 3,594.10.
Financial Services Index rebounded 88.11 points to 12,743.40, the Plantation Index bagged 10.89 points to 7,100.43 and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.30 of-a point to 137.07.
Main Market volume increased to 5.32 billion shares worth RM3.61 billion from 4.24 billion shares worth RM2.71 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover strengthened to 810.98 million units valued at RM200.53 million versus 567.18 million units worth RM131.91 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market also improved to 2.89 billion shares worth RM754.75 million compared with 2.15 billion shares worth RM577.31 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 841.65 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.83 billion), construction (437.49 million), technology (650.22 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (47.56 million), property (773.43 million), plantations (52.98 million), REITs (9.90 million), closed/fund (100), energy (380.28 million), healthcare (171.11 million), telecommunications and media (48.39 million), transportation and logistics (54.03 million), and utilities (20.27 million). — Bernama
