KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — Bursa Malaysia closed marginally higher today, hitting an intraday high as bargain-hunting activities emerged following a few lacklustre trading sessions earlier.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 5.47 points to 1,536.07 from Wednesday’s close of 1,530.60.
The benchmark index opened 1.51 points higher at 1,532.11 and moved between 1,532.03 and 1,542.00 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 516 to 469, while 502 counters were unchanged, 833 untraded, and 55 others suspended.
Turnover narrowed to 3.06 billion units worth RM2.59 billion from 3.75 billion units worth RM3.10 billion on Wednesday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said investors are still staying cautious despite some improvement in market sentiment.
“Recognising that investors’ expectations fluctuate over time. We expect the benchmark index to remain in its sideways pattern for the time being until more clarity emerges regarding the anticipated United States interest rate cut.
“The FBM KLCI has remained in the consolidation phase over the past two weeks. Despite the ongoing deeper consolidation, the index has consistently remained above the 50-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMA),” he told Bernama.
As such, Thong maintains his view that the benchmark index is still consolidating with a slight positive bias, with expectations of it hovering around the 20-day EMA.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank bagged 4.0 sen to RM9.69, Public Bank added 1.0 sen to RM4.22, CIMB Group gained 9.0 sen to RM6.64, and Tenaga Nasional expanded 14 sen to RM11.38.
Meanwhile, Petronas Chemicals declined 8.0 sen to RM6.71.
As for the actives, Hong Seng Consolidated and Lambo Group were flat at 1.0 sen and 3.0 sen, respectively, MMAG Holdings expanded 1.5 sen to 19.0 sen, Southern Score Builders added 4.5 sen to 34.5 sen, while Ingenieur Gudang slipped 1.0 sen to 15.0 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 45.61 points to 11,571.59, the FBMT 100 Index increased by 45.03 points to 11,217.57, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 30.08 points to 11,643.52.
The FBM ACE Index advanced 54.33 points to 4,897.06, while the FBM 70 Index escalated by 85.93 points to 16,234.08.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 91.15 points to 17,273.27, the Industrial Products and Services Index slightly rose by 0.09 points to 179.63, and the Energy Index increased by 9.37 points to 952.36.
The Plantation Index dipped by 10.89 points to 7,287.67.
Meanwhile, the Main Market volume reduced to 1.89 billion units valued at RM2.33 billion from 2.19 billion units valued at RM2.75 billion on Wednesday.
Warrants turnover dipped to 282.04 million units worth RM30.29 million from 800.47 million units worth RM107.30 million on Wednesday.
The ACE Market volume expanded to 855.36 million shares worth RM223.79 million from 751.30 million shares worth RM238.38 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 231.90 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (431.67 million); construction (191.49 million); technology (287.68 million); SPAC (0.00 million); financial services (109.97 million); property (279.02 million); plantation (31.89 million); REITs (17.89 million); closed/fund (10,100); energy (127.78 million); healthcare (47.09 million); telecommunications and media (47.85 million); transportation and logistics (41.31 million); and utilities (43.45 million).
Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries were closed yesterday for Nuzul Al-Quran. — Bernama
