KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — Bursa Malaysia extended its earlier gains to close broadly higher today, thanks to persistent buying support in the index-linked counters amid positive market sentiment, dealers said.
Despite the mixed performance of its regional peers, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 20.7 points or 1.32 per cent to 1,590.78 after moving between 1,558.71 and 1,592.28 throughout the day.
The composite index, which opened easier in early trade, was largely contributed by gains in Petronas Chemicals, Sime Darby Plantation, MISC, and Maybank as risk appetite was lifted by the lower palm oil stock, improving crude oil prices, and growing optimism over Covid-19 vaccines.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI was just roughly 10 points away from hitting the 1,600-point mark today and most of the 30 index constituents were in the green.
“We reckon that investors are optimistic about the third quarter 2020 Gross Domestic Product, which will be announced tomorrow and show a recovery from the second quarter,” he told Bernama.
Adam said another factor was that the government agreed on Barisan Nasional’s proposal to extend the loan moratorium.
If this were to be passed, retail investors would continue to be active in the market and businesses would have less constraint on their cash flow, signalling a good catalyst for profitability, he added.
The overall market breadth on Bursa was positive with gainers trouncing losers 779 to 466, while 383 counters were unchanged, 529 untraded and 27 others suspended.
Total volume widened to 16.56 billion units worth RM5.88 billion from 14.53 billion units worth RM5.96 billion yesterday.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose 11 sen to RM7.80, Public Bank climbed 24 sen to RM17.92, Tenaga increased 14 sen to RM11.48, and Petronas Chemicals soared 28 sen to RM6.83.
Most of the key regional markets were on a downtrend as profit taking emerged and as vaccine rally faded, which also led to Top Glove declining 16 sen to RM7.70 and Hartalega sliding 14 sen to RM15.36.
Of the actives, AT Systematization slipped five sen to 22 sen, Metronic rose 4.5 sen to 13 sen, Xidelang gained two sen to 9.5 sen, Lambo inched up half-a-sen to 4.5 sen and Compugates was flat at 2.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 114.45 points firmer at 11,405.34, the FBMT 100 Index lifted 114.47 points to 11,202.99, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 94.19 points to 13,320.77, the FBM 70 expanded 26.31 points to 14,587.6 and the FBM ACE rose 60.35 points to 11,352.14.
The Industrial Products and Services Index added 3.64 points to 156.22, the Plantation Index climbed 102.87 points to 7,280.65 and the Financial Services Index jumped 173.26 points to 13,582.61.
The Main Market volume surged to 8.37 billion shares worth RM4.2 billion from 5.89 billion shares worth RM4.09 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover fell sharply to 687.1 million units valued at RM103.83 million from 938.31 million units valued at RM148.49 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market slipped to 7.5 billion shares worth RM1.57 billion compared with 7.71 billion shares worth RM1.72 billion previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 1.73 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (4.24 billion), construction (249.66 million), technology (314.64 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (97.66 million), property (315.68 million), plantations (117.15 million), REITs (10.73 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (348.39 million), healthcare (111.32 million), telecommunications and media (92.29 million), transportation and logistics (530.63 million), and utilities (198.94 million). — Bernama
