KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — Bursa Malaysia snapped a three-day losing streak to end higher today as bargain-hunting emerged, in line with regional markets, said a dealer.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.40 per cent or 5.80 points to 1,468.35 from yesterday’s closing of 1,462.55.
The market bellwether, which opened 1.24 points better at 1,463.79, moved between 1,462.41 and 1,468.35 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers thumped losers 447 to 386, while 424 counters were unchanged, 1,007 untraded, and 22 others suspended.
Turnover was reduced to 2.50 billion units worth RM1.33 billion versus 2.91 billion units worth RM1.71 billion yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices were broadly higher today following a positive cue from Wall Street overnight.
“On the domestic trend, we expect the market undertone to remain steady due to improving investor sentiment and we expect the index to stay positive going forward.
“Furthermore, with buying support from the local institutions, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to continue its uptrend, within the range of 1,460 to 1,490 towards the weekend,” he told Bernama.
From a technical point of view, Thong expects strong support at 1,460, with resistance at 1,500.
Bursa Malaysia heavyweight Maybank dropped seven sen to RM8.71, both Public Bank and CIMB eased one sen to RM4.40 and RM5.78 respectively, Tenaga Nasional lost three sen to RM9.14 and Petronas Chemicals gained 32 sen to RM8.40.
Of the actives, Reneuco gained 4.5 sen to 30 sen, Top Glove climbed 3.5 sen to 75.5 sen and Citaglobal inched up half-a-sen to 29.5 sen, while Advance Synergy and Serba Dinamik were flat at 18 sen to one sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was up by 45.15 points to 10,539.90, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 97.50 points to 10,649.67, the FBM 70 Index improved 71.20 points to 12,884.88, the FBM ACE Index bagged 35.80 points to 5,501.65 and the FBMT 100 Index earned 44.14 points to 10,249.67.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index garnered 48.65 points to 6,822.00 and the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 3.11 points to 178.50.
However, the Energy Index was down 2.44 points to 781.83 and the Financial Services Index narrowed 50.67 points to 16,551.51.
The Main Market volume contracted to 1.44 billion shares worth RM986.39 million against 1.63 billion shares worth RM1.24 billion on Wednesday.
Warrants turnover rose to 365.20 million units valued at RM90.05 million versus 298.01 million units valued at RM49.10 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume shrank to 694.25 million shares worth RM252.66 million compared with 981.97 million shares worth RM420.68 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 411.44 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (369.24 million); construction (44.33 million); technology (125.75 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (40.23 million); property (58.98 million); plantation (12.52 million); REITs (3.70 million), closed/fund (6,100); energy (186.36 million); healthcare (121.25 million); telecommunications and media (25.39 million); transportation and logistics (30.26 million); and utilities (13.10 million). — Bernama
