.JPG "An investor monitors the stock prices in the gallery of the RHB Investment Bank Bhd headquarters in Kuala Lumpur March 17, 2020. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Hari Anggara")
KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — Bursa Malaysia closed off its intraday high but remained firmly in the positive territory today, supported by persistent buying in selected healthcare and financial services counters and in line with the better performance in most regional markets, dealer said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.30 points to 1,582.46 from Friday’s close of 1,575.16.
The index opened 7.30 points better at 1,582.46 today and moved between 1,578.20 and 1,587.47 throughout the day.
Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 563 to 428, while 445 counters were unchanged, 718 untraded, and 11 others suspended.
Turnover rose to 7.01 billion units worth RM3.94 billion from 5.33 billion units worth RM2.97 billion last Friday.
Hartalega and Hong Leong Bank were among the top gainers in the benchmark index, rising 13 sen and 12 sen each to end at RM8.43 and RM18.90, respectively.
An analyst said Asian markets sentiment turned positive as investors anticipated the US Federal Reserve’s dovish monetary policy to continue following the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in mid-week.
Another analyst said that investors will await the outcome of the FOMC meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, amid concerns that rising inflationary pressure may prompt the policymakers to contemplate raising the interest rates sooner than anticipated.
“Back home, investors will be eagerly watching out for announcements due to be made sometime this week by Serba Dinamik in relation to the release of its January–March quarterly results and the appointment of an independent accounting firm to undertake a special independent review on some matters pertaining to the statutory audit that have been raised by its external auditor recently,” he said.
Among other heavyweights, Maybank was 1.0 sen higher at RM8.19, Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals, and IHH Healthcare gained 2.0 sen each to RM4.23, RM8.10 and RM5.50, respectively, while TNB improved 12 sen to RM10.06.
Of the actives, Serba Dinamik jumped 14 sen to 74.5 sen, KNM added 2.5 sen to 20.5 sen, Vizione earned half-a-sen to 20 sen, while Tanco was flat at 15 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 62.02 points to 11,565.21, the FBMT 100 Index gained 56.77 points to 11,243.93, and the FBM ACE went up 24.50 points to 7,667.57.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 77.11 points to 12,713.44 and the FBM 70 jumped 94.97 points to 15,029.40.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 58.69 points to 15,311.47, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.89 of-a-point to 193.22, but the Plantation Index fell 21.53 points to 6,677.96.
Main Market volume improved to 5.43 billion shares worth RM3.49 billion from 4.08 billion shares worth RM2.61 billion at Friday’s close.
Warrants turnover went up to 322.08 million units valued at RM24.91 million from 228.33 million units valued at RM27.47 million.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 1.25 billion shares worth RM419 million versus 1.02 billion shares worth RM328.62 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 649.42 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.10 billion), construction (211.60 million), technology (342.65 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (76.37 million), property (299.51 million), plantation (35.73 million), REITs (8.38 million), closed/fund (16,100), energy (2.30 billion), healthcare (86.18 million), telecommunications and media (64.23 million), transportation and logistics (95.65 million), and utilities (155.42 million). — Bernama
