KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — Bursa Malaysia ended higher today as gains in plantation and commodity-related counters offset the cautious regional sentiment.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.95 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 1,698.44 from Friday’s close of 1,691.49.
The benchmark index opened 1.81 points higher at 1,693.30, and moved between 1,685.74 and 1,703.10 throughout the day. The index briefly breached the key 1,700-level in the late afternoon trading session.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 653 to 440, while 533 counters were unchanged, 1,088 untraded, and 33 suspended.
Turnover improved to 3.09 billion units valued at RM2.23 billion from 2.85 billion units valued at RM2.25 billion on Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research Thong Pak Leng remains cautiously optimistic despite the elevated geopolitical risks.
He said strength in commodity-related sectors and resilient domestic market fundamentals are expected to lend support to the local bourse.
“We anticipate the benchmark index to trend within the 1,690-1,710 range for the week,” he told Bernama.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said although the benchmark index finished just below the 1,700-point psychological level, the market remained resilient, supported by the return of foreign investors, who were net buyers over the past three trading sessions, providing renewed liquidity and support for large-cap counters.
“Regionally, Asian equities closed mixed as investors balanced geopolitical risks against improving fundamentals in selected markets, while Malaysia’s stable macroeconomic outlook and sustained foreign interest continued to support domestic equities,” he added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM10.94, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare added three sen to RM4.92 and RM8.47, respectively, CIMB gained five sen to RM7.69, while Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM14.30.
As for the active stocks, Tanco inched up 4.5 sen to 24 sen, Zetrix AI and VS Industry increased 1.5 sen each to 76.5 sen and 21 sen, respectively. HHRG put on half a sen to 11.5 sen while PUC was flat at 4.5 sen.
Of the top gainers, United Plantations garnered 76 sen to RM35.02, Kuala Lumpur Kepong was up 28 sen to RM21.88, SD Guthrie added 21 sen to RM6.45, while Press Metal and Sarawak Oil Palms climbed 15 sen each to RM7.85 and RM5.15, respectively.
Malaysian Pacific Industries led the losers list, falling RM1.70 to RM44.30, Fraser & Neave dipped 76 sen to RM28.94, Petronas Dagangan lost 34 sen to RM19.22, UWC slipped 29 sen to RM6.01, while Kelington erased 26 sen to RM7.70.
Among the broader indices, the FBM Emas Index increased 30.15 points to 12,553.96, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 32.27 points to 12,386.60, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index grew 23.77 points to 12,397.39.
The FBM 70 Index weakened 32.11 points to 17,826.36 and the FBM ACE Index slipped 28.42 points to 4,865.01.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index jumped 98.41 points to 20,020.07, the Plantation Index surged 185.21 points to 9,387.52, and the Industrial Products and Services Index climbed 0.94 of a point to 183.52, while the Energy Index put on 4.47 points to 773.29.
The Main Market volume expanded to 1.56 billion units valued at RM1.96 billion compared with 1.31 billion units valued at RM1.93 billion last Friday.
Warrants turnover was slightly higher at 1.07 billion units worth RM131.26 million versus 1.05 billion units worth RM139.75 million previously.
The ACE Market volume declined to 462.71 million units valued at RM143.73 million from 491.14 million units valued at RM177.02 million on Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 169.18 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (268.80 million), construction (92.64 million), technology (239.39 million), financial services (53.36 million), property (463.66 million), plantation (54.63 million), real estate investment trusts (13.25 million), closed-end fund (42,400), energy (78.87 million), healthcare (47.99 million), telecommunications and media (22.55 million), transportation and logistics (26.25 million), utilities (31.59 million), and business trusts (20,200). — Bernama
