KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — Bargain-hunting and window-dressing activities particularly in glove and banking stocks lifted Bursa Malaysia to end higher today, with the benchmark index gaining 1.15 per cent.
As at 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) surged 17.46 points to end at 1,533.91 compared with 1,516.45 at Friday’s close.
The index opened 0.92 of-a-point higher at 1,517.37 and moved between 1,515.10 and 1,535.93 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 486 to 335, while 424 counters were unchanged,1,065 untraded, and 14 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 2.21 billion units valued at RM1.36 billion from Friday’s 1.88 billion units valued at RM911.77 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the company reckoned that some bargain-hunting and window-dressing activities would continue given the cheap valuations of the local market as compared to regional peers.
“On the other hand, we shall remain cautious given the heightened market volatility across the region as some investors are still cautious as uncertainty over the economic impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant weighed on investor sentiment.
“Other regional markets such as Singapore, Taiwan and the Philippines were positive but gains were capped as China and Japan faced prospects of tighter curbs amid rising Covid-19 cases,” he told Bernama.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.37 per cent to 28,676.46, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.13 per cent to 23,223.76, Singapore’s Straits Times Index shed 0.13 per cent to 3,104.24, and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.43 per cent to 2,999.55.
Among the banking heavyweights, Maybank added five sen to RM8.30, Public Bank and CIMB rose three sen each to RM4.15 and RM5.39, respectively, and Hong Leong Bank was 16 sen higher at RM18.66.
Other heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals advanced eight sen to RM8.85 and IHH was nine sen higher at RM6.66, Tenaga added 10 sen to RM9.31, and PMetal increased 12 sen to RM5.65.
Of the actives, XOX and AT Systematization were both flat at 3.0 sen and 3.5 sen respectively, SMTrack perked up half-a-sen to 14 sen, and ATA IMS dipped 5.5 sen to 65.5 sen.
For rubber-related stocks, Top Glove added 17 sen to RM2.36, KL Kepong added 20 sen to RM21.62, and Rubberex added 1.5 sen to 53 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 106.40 points higher at 11,101.91, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 107.50 points to 10,809.21, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 138.98 points to 11,941.66.
The FBM 70 rose 72.77 points to 14,076.18 while the FBM ACE gained 37.81 points to 6,277.93.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index perked up 92.43 points to 15,515.06, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.77 points to 199.31, and the Plantation Index shed 58.67 points to 6,547.18.
The Main Market volume expanded to 1.23 billion shares valued at RM1.16 billion versus last Friday’s 981.60 million shares valued at RM757.87 million.
Warrants turnover increased to 145.92 million units worth RM9.48 million compared with 101.41 million units worth RM16.12 million last Friday.
The ACE Market volume improved to 825.87 million shares valued at RM187.64 million from 800.90 million shares valued at RM137.45 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 216.67 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (444.84 million), construction (55.88 million), technology (138.37 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (33.61 million), property (78.80 million), plantation (6.63 million), REITs (3.92 million), closed/fund (2,000), energy (96.48 million), healthcare (90.80 million), telecommunications and media (21.73 million), transportation and logistics (37.06 million), and utilities (9.12 million). — Bernama
