Bursa Malaysia ends slightly higher in range-bound trade

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Bursa Malaysia ended slightly higher today in range-bound trading, supported by buying in selected heavyweight stocks, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 1.89 points to 1,583.48 from Monday’s close of 1,581.59.

It opened 0.16 of-a-point better at 1,581.75 and moved between 1,580.14 and 1,586.37 throughout the day.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 632 to 439, while 425 counters were unchanged, 731 untraded and 25 others suspended.

Turnover was higher at 4.75 billion units worth RM2.89 billion compared with 4.42 billion units worth RM2.89 billion on Monday.

A dealer said Bursa Malaysia had opened slightly higher, tracking its regional peers which mostly extended yesterday’s rally but hovered in a tight range throughout the trading session, taking the cue from the latest weak US jobs report which investors viewed positively.

“On the local bourse, profit-taking in financial stocks continued to weigh on the barometer index, however, the index was supported by persistent buying in Press Metal stock which contributed 4.24 points to the index,” he said.

Asian markets also ended mostly higher today as investors awaited decisions from central banks in Europe and elsewhere on clues on economic stimulus and measures to be taken to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.14 per cent to 3,105.44, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index increased 0.73 per cent to 26,353.63, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.86 per cent to 29,916.14.89 while South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.50 per cent to 3,187.42.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell six sen to RM8.27, Petronas Chemicals, IHH Healthcare and CIMB shed five sen each to RM8.05, RM6.30, and RM4.91, respectively.

Public Bank added one sen to RM4.10 while Tenaga was flat at RM10.34.

Of the actives, KNM increased 2.5 sen to 31.5 sen, TFP Solutions edged up half-a-sen to 23.5 sen, and Avillion bagged one sen to 14 sen.

Pegasus and AE Multiholdings were flat at 1.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 19.51 points to 11,600.36, the FBMT 100 Index was 13.80 points better at 11,286.28, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 36.94 points to 12,711.89.

The FBM 70 lifted 19.93 points to 15,223.88 while the FBM ACE jumped  84.72 points to 7,360.30.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 38.14 points to 15,438.08, the Plantation Index slid 4.45 points to 6,621.26 while the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.17 points to 201.28.

The Main Market volume increased to 3.28 billion shares worth RM2.54 billion from Monday’s 2.87 billion shares worth RM2.48 billion.

Warrants turnover rose to 330.70 million units valued at RM50 million compared to 315.03 million units valued at RM48.91 million.

Volume on the ACE Market narrowed to 1.13 billion shares worth RM296.22 million from 1.24 billion shares worth RM360.88 million yesterday.    

Consumer products and services accounted for 454.91 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.14 billion), construction (194.26 million), technology (316.13 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (53.11 million), property (363.20 million), plantation (39.16 million), REITs (8.25 million), closed/fund (38,500), energy (445.34 million), healthcare (59.77 million), telecommunications and media (39.58 million), transportation and logistics (147.16 million) and utilities (16.44 million). — Bernama