KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — Bursa Malaysia ended higher for the fourth consecutive day on persistent buying support across the board today.
At 5pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI rose 15.05 points to 1,639.83 from yesterday’s close of 1,624.78.
The key index, which opened 4.25 points higher at 1,629.03, moved between 1,628.82 and 1,642.20 throughout the day.
Market breadth was positive with gainers thumping losers 850 to 358, while 452 counters were unchanged, 535 untraded and eight others suspended.
Total volume increased to 11.01 billion units worth RM7.20 billion from Tuesday’s 8.12 billion units worth RM5.91 billion.
Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.47 per cent to 28,907.52, Japan’s Nikkei was 0.03 per cent better at 29,036.56, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.86 per cent to 3,081.66 and South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.60 per cent to 2,958.12.
Asian shares ended up mixed today after trading quite firm in the earlier session as easing bond yields brought investors back while markets also took cue from the stronger overnight US equities’ performance after Nasdaq recorded its biggest gain since November 2020.
On the local front, Maybank Investment Bank senior chartist Nik Ihsan Raja Abdullah told Bernama that the US market’s gains had also boosted Malaysian equities with strong buying interest seen in telecommunications and industrial products counters.
“Investors and traders were flocking to recent bargains, particularly in the technology sector, while the property sector scored another gain today.
“The gain was broad across blue chips, second and third liners, while the ACE Market also staged a rebound today,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim commented that the government’s move to allow domestic tourism travel from March 10 via government-registered tour agencies had also sparked some positivity in terms of economic growth trajectory.
“Telecommunications and media emerged as the largest gainer among sectoral indices today after settling higher than 2.0 per cent.
“Banking stocks also staged a rally as stocks such as Hong Leong Bank, Hong Leong Financial Group, Maybank and Public Bank ended on a higher note in line with higher economic benefits from the latest relaxation on domestic travel restrictions,” he added.
Among the other heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals rose four sen each to RM8.54 and RM8.17 respectively, Public Bank gained three sen to RM4.45 and Tenaga added two sen to RM10.72. CIMB eased one sen to RM4.64.
Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange jumped 16 sen to 89 sen while its warrants gained three sen to 37.5 sen. Saudee Group advanced 24 sen to 78 sen while its warrants picked up 10 sen to 14.0 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 117.47 points to 11,952.44, the FBMT 100 Index gained 109.24 points to 11,650.60, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 158.31 points higher at 13,181.03.
The FBM ACE perked up 162.70 points to 10,352.42 and the FBM 70 advanced 154.88 points to 15,568.15.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 93.10 points to 15,835.54, the Industrial Products and Services Index climbed 2.88 points to 190.10, and the Plantation Index went up 14.45 points to 7,182.13.
Main Market volume surged to 8.27 billion shares worth RM6.46 billion from Tuesday’s 5.88 billion shares worth RM5.35 billion.
Warrants turnover reduced to 485.41 million units worth RM80.70 million from 646.05 million units worth RM101.54 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market jumped to 2.25 billion shares worth RM650.79 million from 1.6 billion shares worth RM458.49 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 1.52 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.13 billion), construction (594.33 million), technology (3.25 billion), SPAC (nil), financial services (122.82 million), property (583.57 million), plantations (24.27 million), REITs (12.90 million), closed/fund (65,700), energy (484.06 million), healthcare (109.75 million), telecommunications and media (78.39 million), transportation and logistics (219.30 million) and utilities (145.79 million). — Bernama
