Bursa Malaysia ends on a firm note on last-minute buying

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Bursa Malaysia ended at an intraday high, lifted by last-minute buying in selected heavyweight stocks, led by Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd and MISC Bhd, dealers said.

Press Metal and MISC contributed a total of 4.92 points to the main index.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 14.15 points to end at 1,597.63 from yesterday’s close of 1,583.48.

After opening 1.76 points easier at 1,581.72, the FBM KLCI moved between 1,579.18 and 1,597.63.  throughout the day.

However, market breadth was negative with decliners trumping gainers 707 to 374, while 426 counters were unchanged, 730 untraded and 25 others suspended.

Turnover was higher at 5.91 billion units worth RM3.23 billion compared with 4.75 billion units worth RM2.89 billion on Tuesday.

A dealer said trading on Bursa Malaysia turned choppy at midday.

“The local bourse extended its losses at mid-afternoon, dragged down by selling in heavyweights led by the healthcare and utilities sectors, but last-minute stints helped the market to end on a firm note,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Bank Islam chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid commented that regional equities were mostly in the negative territory, in tandem with the rising risk aversion among investors.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index eased 0.12 per cent to 26,320.93, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 1.27 per cent to 3,069.16 and South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.77 per cent to 3,162.99, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.89 per cent to 30,181.21.

“News on major investment banks on the Wall Street turning more cautious on United States (US) equities may have weighed on market sentiments.

“The US Nonfarm Payroll (NFP) in August came in lower at 235,000 versus 1.05 million in the preceding month, suggesting that the labour market recovery is soft and that the recovery process will continue to be affected by the resurgence in Covid-19 cases,” he said.

He noted that such sentiment had affected the FBMKLCI’s performance.

“Nonetheless, the telco, plantation and banking counters have been in positive territory, mitigating the downward pressure,” said Mohd Afzanizam.

Moving forward, he said investors would be looking at Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting tomorrow for clues on the market direction, particularly its assessment of the health of the economy.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals added four sen each to RM8.31 and RM8.09, respectively, Public Bank gained five sen to RM4.15, IHH Healthcare rose 10 sen to RM6.40, while Tenaga Nasional reduced four sen to RM10.30.

Of the actives, KNM eased five sen to 26.5 sen, PUC improved one sen to 17.5 sen, Fintec edged up half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, while Borneo Oil and Metronic were flat at three sen and 3.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 64.94 points to 11,665.30, the FBMT 100 Index was 78.17 points higher at 11,364.45, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 78.17 points to 12,788.33.

The FBM 70 improved 16.84 points to 15,240.52, while the FBM ACE dropped 108.22 points to 7,252.08.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index surged 107.29 points to 6,728.55, the Financial Services Index jumped 88.36 points to 15,526.44 and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.33 points to 202.61.

The Main Market volume increased to 3.83 billion shares worth RM2.85 billion from Tuesday’s 3.28 billion shares worth RM2.54 billion.

Warrants turnover rose to 377.15 million units valued at RM53.53 million compared to 330.70 million units valued at RM50 million.

Volume on the ACE Market widened to 1.71 billion shares worth RM337.99 million from 1.13 billion shares worth RM296.22 million yesterday.    

Consumer products and services accounted for 414.30 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.44 billion), construction (200.55 million), technology (216.71 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (67.73 million), property (197.38 million), plantation (32.31 million), REITs (10.92 million), closed/fund (7,000), energy (1.01 billion), healthcare (105.52 million), telecommunications and media (56.14 million), transportation and logistics (55.31 million) and utilities (19.15 million). — Bernama