.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, Dec 7 — Bursa Malaysia recovered from yesterday’s losses as investors nibbled on beaten-down heavyweights and repositioned themselves, moving into the year-end window dressing period.
At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 6.79 points to 1,490.24 compared with 1,483.45 at Monday’s close.
The market bellwether opened 1.49 points better at 1,484.94.
On the broader market, gainers trounced losers 274 to 127, while 236 counters were unchanged, 1,649 untraded, and 20 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 339.5 million units valued at RM161.1 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Wall Street rebounded strongly overnight with the view that the Omicron variant may cause milder illness than earlier strains and this may provide buying support for the local equities.
The Dow recovered all its previous session losses as concern over Covid-19 eased on reports that South Africa hospitals have yet to be overwhelmed.
“Moving towards year-end, we believe investors may focus on value stocks and heavyweights with the idea of window-dressing activities.
“Besides, the firmer crude oil price may support energy stocks at least for the near term,” it said in a note today.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank, Axiata and Tenaga Nasional went up six sen to RM3.94, RM3.71 and RM9.08, respectively.
Maybank, IHH and Telekom Malaysia rose five sen each to RM8.04, RM6.60 and RM5.36, respectively.
Top Glove, however, remained weak at RM2.45 or 12 sen lower, while Hartalega lost 15 sen to RM5.94.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy eased two sen to six sen, Impiana Hotels added half-a-sen to 9.5 sen, and KNM dropped half-a-sen to 14.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 48.97 points to 10,858.91, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 48.77 points to 10,567.70, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 32.60 points higher at 11,743.63.
The FBM 70 improved 67.24 points to 14,040.13 and the FBM ACE rose 20.02 points to 6,233.04.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index increased 0.35 of-a-point to 191.41, the Financial Services Index inched up 85.47 points to 15,053.18, and the Plantation Index added 8.28 points to 6,402.43. — Bernama
