KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — Bursa Malaysia ended the week higher, extending gains for the third day running today, bucking the regional trend, on continued buying support in the telecommunications and media sectors.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI ended 9.85 points firmer at 1,612.25 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,602.40.
The index opened 12.55 points higher at 1,614.95, and moved between 1,605.37 and 1,615.49 throughout the session.
However, on the broader market, losers beat gainers 558 versus 511, while 453 counters were unchanged, 636 untraded and nine others suspended.
Total volume decreased to 6.58 billion shares valued at RM4.14 billion from 7.6 billion shares valued at RM4.89 billion yesterday.
Regionally, Asian shares were mostly lower today despite Wall Street’s strong performance.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.02 per cent to 3,185.84, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down by 1.07 per cent to 28,698.80 and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.36 per cent to 3,131.88, while Japan’s Nikkei was 0.20 per cent better at 29,768.06.
A dealer said investors remained concerned on the escalating tension between China and the US in the South China Sea as well as the increase in US jobless claims for the second consecutive week as reported yesterday, which bucked the streak of strong economic data.
“The market was also wary about China’s March consumer price index which was stronger than expected due to a jump in fuel prices, while the nation’s producer prices climbed at the fastest pace in more than four years, as that could prompt authorities to act to cool inflation,” he told Bernama.
On the local front, Maybank Investment Bank Bhd senior chartist Nik Ihsan Raja Abdullah said the FBM KLCI opened on a firm note and stayed in positive territory throughout the session from the resumption in trading for both Digi and Axiata following the announcement of a possible merger.
“The news of advanced talks to merge the two telecoms giants has sparked a huge buying interest with both Axiata and Digi soaring 8.16 per cent and 18.93 per cent respectively,” he added.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.29, Petronas Chemicals gained three sen to RM7.83, Tenaga increased 10 sen to RM10.24, Public Bank erased one sen to RM4.20 and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.30.
Among the active counters, Digi warrant rose 7.5 sen to 9.5 sen, GFM warrant added two sen to 12.5 sen, Focus Dynamic gained two sen to 50 sen, LKL reduced 7.5 sen to 37.5 sen while Borneo Oil was flat at 4.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was up 36.22 points to 11,898.92, the FBMT 100 increased 38.76 points to 11,546.56 and the FBM Emas Shariah advanced 58.05 points to 13,281.16, the FBM ACE rose 66.45 points to 9,995.54, but the FBM 70 slipped 69.17 points to 15,786.97.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.23 of-a-point to 193.56, the Plantation Index shed 2.97 points to 6,983.63, while the Financial Services Index edged up 0.38 of-a-point to 15,213.83.
Main Market volume fell to 3.57 billion shares worth RM3.32 billion from Thursday’s 4.26 billion shares worth RM3.83 billion.
Warrants turnover advanced to 528.36 million units valued at RM64.07 million from 500.23 million units valued at RM59.73 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market decreased to 2.48 billion shares worth RM757.47 million from 2.83 billion shares worth RM1.0 billion yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 560.43 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.43 billion), construction (137.66 million), technology (416.63 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (51.53 million), property (290.29 million), plantations (26.53 million), REITs (5.05 million), closed/fund (47,900), energy (212.31 million), healthcare (122.64 million), telecommunications and media (157.15 million), transportation and logistics (118.62 million), and utilities (33.95 million). — Bernama
