FBM KLCI settles at intra-day high of 1,577.82 after range-bound trading

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — Bursa Malaysia settled at its intra-day high after trading range-bound throughout the day as investors collected some oversold stocks following the recent sell-down.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose six points, or 0.38 per cent, to 1,577.82 from 1,571.82 at Monday’s close.

The key index opened 2.82 points lower at 1,569.0 and moved between 1,567.37 and 1,577.82 throughout the day.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 582 to 464, while 413 counters were unchanged, 743 untraded and 32 others suspended.

Total volume shrank to 6.33 billion units worth RM3.84 billion against 6.75 billion units worth RM3.47 billion yesterday.

Despite the firmer performance, Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Victor Wan said market players remained uncertain about the economic and market outlook after a fresh high of 7,289 new COVID-19 cases were reported today.

“Along with the slow vaccine roll-out, investors are still lacking confidence in the market.

“They also remained uneasy about what would happen after the Movement Control Order 3.0 is over on June 7,” he told Bernama.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah tweeted today that the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Malaysia spiked to 7,289 over the past 24 hours, the highest figure ever recorded since the pandemic began in January last year.

Among the 30 FBM KLCI constituents, gains were led by Press Metal which strengthened nine sen to RM5.21, followed by Petronas Chemicals which increased eight sen to RM8.00.

Digi was 12 sen higher at RM4.27, Sime Darby accumulated eight sen to RM2.28 while Dialog improved seven sen to RM2.95.

Of the actives, Progressive Impact bagged five sen to 19 sen, Kanger was one sen better at 10 sen, Sasbadi perked 2.5 sen to 24 sen, while Ucrest slipped 2.5 sen to 41 sen and Privasia Technology was unchanged at 26 sen.

Top gainers included MPI which surged 52 sen to RM37.68. Carlsberg and Widetech rose 44 sen each to RM21.60 and RM3.21 respectively, BAT grew 32 sen to RM15.96 and Hong Leong Financial Group was 30 sen firmer at RM17.00.

Top losers were led by Nestle, giving up 50 sen to RM135.30, while BLD Plantation declined 47 sen to RM9.01, Hartalega lost 25 sen to RM9.23, Greatech erased 17 sen to RM5.25 and Kumpulan H&L was 15 sen lower at RM2.09.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded 39.25 points to 11,492.30 and the FBMT 100 Index rose 39.54 points to 11,181.94.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 45.53 points to 12,787.26, the FBM 70 elevated 40.94 points to 14,834.03 and the FBM ACE bounced 15.12 points to 7,849.73.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index firmed by 17.78 points to 14,893.99, the Plantation Index went up 8.69 points to 6,940.22 and the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 1.17 points to 192.06.

Main Market volume widened to 3.89 billion shares worth RM3.0 billion from 3.57 billion shares worth RM2.58 billion on Monday.

Warrants turnover was higher at 285.18 million units valued at RM32.20 million against 223.20 million units valued at RM24.48 million yesterday.

Volume on the Ace Market was lower at 2.15 billion shares worth RM802.42 million versus 2.95 billion shares worth RM870.47 million previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 705.34 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.20 billion), construction (126.72 million), technology (709.53 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (50.15 million), property (258.77 million), plantation (39.67 million), REITs (5.14 million), closed/fund (12,700), energy (314.57 million), healthcare (105.91 million), telecommunications and media (268.80 million), transportation and logistics (85.32 million), and utilities (22.92 million).

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will be closed tomorrow in conjunction with Wesak Day celebration, and the exchange will resume operations on Thursday. — Bernama