Bursa Malaysia closes higher on bargain hunting, led by banking stocks

KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Bursa Malaysia closed higher today on bargain hunting, led by banking, gaming, and oil and gas stocks as the local bourse moved up along with key regional markets.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.7 per cent, or 10.16 points, to 1,426.11 from last Friday’s close of 1,415.95.

The index opened 0.26 of a point better at 1,416.21 and moved between 1,415.92 and 1,428.32 throughout the trading session.

The market breadth was positive with gainers outnumbering decliners 433 to 403, while 397 counters were unchanged, 1,006 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover rose to 2.90 billion units valued at RM1.52 billion from 2.64 billion units worth RM1.48 billion last Friday.

The market was closed on Monday for Labour Day.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices were also in positive territory following positive economic data from Hong Kong, South Korea, and Thailand.

On the domestic front, he said the online brokerage is cautiously optimistic given the improvement in the regional market sentiment.

“Nonetheless, investors will stay alert due to the increasing market volatility, especially in the United States and Europe.

“We expect some bargain-hunting to continue given the cheap valuations of the local market compared to regional peers.

“We see the benchmark index trade within a range of between 1,420-1,435 for the week. Based on technical analysis, the immediate support is at 1,400 and resistance at 1,440,” Thong told Bernama.

Among the banking stocks, Maybank added two sen to RM8.68, Public Bank and CIMB rose three sen each to RM3.92 and RM5.09 respectively, Hong Leong grew 12 sen to RM20.26 and RHB Bank gained four sen to RM5.52.

In other heavyweight counters, Petronas Chemicals climbed 12 sen to RM7.20, Tenaga perked up seven sen to RM8.97 and CelcomDigi was flat at RM4.40.

As for the active stocks, Hong Seng edged down half-a-sen each to 12.5 sen, Vinvest was flat at 20.5 sen, Fitters was half-a-sen higher at five sen and MYEG bagged three sen to 82 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was up 58.61 points to 10,455.00, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 60.94 points to 10,141.16 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 61.01 points to 10,797.80.

The FBM ACE Index fell 51.76 points to 5,316.62 but the FBM 70 index ticked up 34.72 points to 13,557.30.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.99 of a point to 172.44 and the Financial Services Index gained 83.18 points to 15,5602.72, while the Energy Index went down 1.55 points to 845.82 and the Plantation Index was down 24.44 points at 6,792.94.

The Main Market volume increased to 2.05 billion units valued at RM1.30 billion from 1.78 billion units worth RM1.25 billion on Friday.

Warrant turnover strengthened to 323.60 million units worth RM67.76 million against 235.24 million units valued at RM46.98 million previously.

The ACE Market volume dropped to 529.03 million shares worth RM152.17 million versus 624.27 million shares worth RM183.73 million on Friday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 325.86 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (531.20 million); construction (99.78 million); technology (452.92 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (53.75 million); property (233.74 million); plantation (21.76 million); REITs (7.45 million), closed/fund (1,000); energy (69.10 million); healthcare (77.37 million); telecommunications and media (102.91 million); transportation and logistics (43.59 million); and utilities (32.50 million). — Bernama