.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, April 29 — Bursa Malaysia ended slightly higher in volatile trading today, boosted by continued buying support in selected heavyweight counters in gaming, oil and gas, as well as plantation.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) climbed 3.12 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 1,600.43 from Thursday’s close of 1,597.31.
The benchmark index opened 4.71 points higher at 1,602.02 and moved between 1,595.78 and 1,605.02 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 566 to 390, while 448 counters were unchanged, 884 untraded, and 67 others suspended.
Total turnover rose to 2.81 billion units worth RM2.07 billion from 2.48 billion units worth RM2.19 billion on Thursday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional markets maintained their uptrend on the strong buying of technology stocks following big gains on Nasdaq overnight.
As for the local bourse, the 1,600 psychological mark has remained a hurdle due to strong resistance.
“We see a quiet trading week ahead due to the Hari Raya and Labour Day holidays. We also expect some profit-taking activities to emerge given the strong resistance at 1,600,” he told Bernama.
Additionally, Thong said investors could look into the winners of the digital banking licence such as RHB Bank, Aeon Credit, and YTL Corp for trading opportunities.
Earlier, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) announced five consortia, namely Boost Holdings Bhd-RHB Bank Bhd, GXS Bank Pte Ltd-Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd, Sea Ltd-YTL Digital Capital Sdn Bhd, AEON Financial Service Co Ltd-AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd-MoneyLion Inc, and KAF Investment Bank Sdn Bhd have been awarded Malaysia’s digital bank licences.
At 5 pm, RHB Bank rose six sen to RM6.25, Aeon Credit went up 30 sen to RM15.90 and YTL added four sen to 63.5 sen.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank gained three sen to RM9.07, Petronas Chemicals increased 12 sen to RM10.22, CIMB inched up one sen to RM5.20, while Public Bank lost two sen to RM4.69 and IHH Healthcare slid four sen to RM6.61.
Of the actives, PUC slipped 3.5 sen to 7.5 sen, both Techna-X and MNC Wireless bagged half-a-sen to 12.5 sen and three sen respectively, Euro went up 3.5 sen to 21 sen and MN Holdings was one sen higher at 24.5 sen.
On the index board, FBM 70 added 60.91 points to 13,772.18, FBM Emas Index gained 30.60 points to 11,466.08, FBMT 100 Index increased 28.13 points to 11,120.50 and FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 31.75 points to 12,022.28, while FBM ACE dropped 7.10 points to 5,578.67.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 15.34 points to 16,926.80, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.61 of-a-point better at 210.03, and the Plantation Index improved 36.10 points to 8,821.01.
The Main Market volume was marginally lower at 1.66 billion shares worth RM1.83 billion compared with 1.67 billion shares worth RM1.98 billion on Thursday.
The turnover for warrants widened to 473.01 million units valued at RM95.58 million against 268.65 million units valued at RM46.96 million.
The ACE Market volume jumped to 674.39 million shares worth RM135.61 million versus 544.68 million shares worth RM160.10 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 391.07 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (369.40 million), construction (68.20 million), technology (144.40 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (61.40 million), property (130.56 million), plantation (78.19 million), REITs (16.89 million), closed/fund (51,600), energy (229.28 million), healthcare (28.24 million), telecommunications and media (31.15 million), transportation and logistics (21.53 million), and utilities (93.14 million).
Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries will be closed on May 2, 2022 (Monday) in conjunction with the Labour Day replacement holiday and will also be closed for two more days on May 3 and 4 (Tuesday and Wednesday) in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays.
Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will resume operations on May 5, 2022 (Thursday). — Bernama
