KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — Bursa Malaysia ended the day in positive territory, with the key index advancing by 1.18 per cent, lifted by bargain hunting in glove stocks.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI jumped 18.58 points to 1,588.45 from 1,569.87 at yesterday’s closing.
The key index opened 4.89 points higher at 1,572.03 and moved between 1,568.65 and 1,588.45 throughout the day.
Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 631 to 559, while 416 counters were unchanged, 547 untraded and nine others suspended.
Total volume fell to 10.78 billion units worth RM6.18 billion from Tuesday’s 12.89 billion units worth RM6.42 billion.
A dealer said investors are looking forward to Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Meeting tomorrow to gauge further direction for the local bourse.
However, she said the market has already anticipated that the central bank would maintain the Overnight Policy Rate at the current 1.75 per cent.
Among the heavyweights, glove producers Top Glove strengthened 34 sen to RM5.09, Hartalega surged 44 sen to RM9.85, and Supermax jumped 55 sen to RM4.66.
Additionally, Maybank rose six sen to RM8.14, Petronas Chemicals widened 21 sen to RM7.74, TNB expanded by 10 sen to RM10.46, CIMB added one sen to RM4.29, while Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.22 and RM5.50, respectively, and Sime Darby Plantation eased one sen to RM4.93.
Of the actives, Parkson and Borneo Oil edged up half-a-sen each to 19.5 sen and four sen, respectively, Sealink rose 2.5 sen to 20.5 sen, Kanger International was flat at 10.5 sen, while XOX, EA Holdings and Dagang Nexchange inched down half-a-sen to eight sen, 3.5 sen and 61.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded 94.92 points to 11,671.44, the FBMT 100 Index improved 91.13 points to 11,365.85, the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 149.7 points to 13,040.25, the FBM ACE went up 44.43 points to 10,615.79 and the FBM 70 fell 36.49 points to 15,499.35.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 2.89 points higher at 186.93, the Plantation Index increased 22.81 points to 7,162.09, and the Financial Services Index edged up 0.01 of-a-point to 15,032.84.
The Main Market volume went down to 6.62 billion shares worth RM5.14 billion from 7.38 billion shares worth RM5.03 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover was higher at 523.02 million units worth RM72.37 million from 480.88 million units worth RM85.15 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market decreased to 3.63 million shares worth RM964.11 million from 5.03 billion shares worth RM1.31 billion previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 1.15 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.99 billion), construction (211.98 million), technology (1.10 billion), SPAC (nil), financial services (212.19 million), property (548.95 million), plantations (27.96 million), REITs (9.08 million), closed/fund (40,600), energy (574.47 million), healthcare (213.41 million), telecommunications and media (918.84 million), transportation and logistics (419.11 million), and utilities (68.52 million). — Bernama
