KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — Bursa Malaysia recouped earlier losses to end in positive territory today, with the key index closing at its intra-day high, thanks to buying support in heavyweights, but market sentiment remained cautious, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.26 points to end the day at 1,500.26 compared with Monday’s close of 1,493.0.
The index was lifted by gains in Sime Darby Plantation, Maybank, CIMB, Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK), Public Bank, and Tenaga, with a combined 7.285 points.
The market bellwether, which opened 0.15 of-a-point better at 1,493.15, slipped to low of 1,489.74 at one point.
There were 493 losers and 473 gainers on the broader market, with 430 counters unchanged, 776 untraded, and nine others suspended.
Turnover increased to 4.16 billion units valued at RM2.72 billion from 3.43 billion units worth RM2.38 billion on Monday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI rebounded by 0.5 per cent with gains propelled mainly by KLK, which advanced by 3.4 per cent during the day, making the Bursa Malaysia Plantation Index the largest gainer among other sectoral indices with a daily gain of 1.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Bursa Malaysia Healthcare index was the biggest decliner at 1.4 per cent following the drop in rubber glove counters under the FBM KLCI such as Hartalega and Top Glove, which declined by 3.3 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively.
“In general, sentiment was probably boosted by the positivity that spilled over from Indonesia, which aims to gradually reopen its economy in September after its health minister said on Monday the wave of coronavirus infections had passed its peak,” he told Bernama.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose six sen to RM8.05, Public Bank gained three sen to RM4.00, Tenaga bagged 10 sen to RM9.73, IHH increased five sen to RM5.77, CIMB earned seven sen to RM4.54, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.05.
Among the actives, Serba Dinamik picked up 2.5 sen to 40.5 sen, Saudee slipped 1.5 sen to 10.5 sen, Kanger inched down half-a-sen to six sen, while Permaju and Systech were flat at nine sen and 30.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 44.76 points higher at 11,024.42, FBMT 100 Index increased 44.72 points to 10,736.85, FBM 70 advanced 32.93 points to 14,652.79, FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 33.01 points to 12,104.28, and the FBM ACE improved 30.8 points to 7,117.73.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index soared 123.11 points to 14,791.66, the Plantation Index climbed 78.85 points to 6,088.09, while the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.74 of-a-point to 188.56.
Main Market volume increased to 2.73 billion shares valued at RM2.28 billion from 2.15 billion shares worth RM2.0 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover widened to 328.07 million units valued at RM48.18 million compared with yesterday’s 294.79 million units worth RM38.44 million.
Volume on the ACE Market improved to 1.1 billion shares valued at RM386.25 million against 976.3 million shares worth RM336.25 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 806.98 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (825.70 million), construction (83.46 million), technology (248.78 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (54.92 million), property (136.48 million), plantation (15.27 million), REITs (4.64 million), closed/fund (74,200), energy (387.57 million), healthcare (92.65 million), telecommunications and media (26.27 million), transportation and logistics (37.58 million), and utilities (12.85 million). — Bernama
