Bursa Malaysia joined the key Asian markets recovery as they notched gains of between 0.4% and 2.25% with Dialog, telcos, glove makers and Maybank underpinning the advance.
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended its most volatile week in years on a slightly firmer note as local institutions put up a stiff resistance to the heavy selling by foreign funds.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up just 0.06 of a point to 1,854.50. For the week, it was up eight points.
Turnover was 2.92 billion shares valued at RM3.16bil. The broader market was weaker as decliners beat advancers 607 to 308 while 368 counters unchanged.
When the markets reopened on Monday after the Pakatan Harapan coalition scored a stunning victory in the 14th General Election, sceptical foreign funds were net sellers totalling RM1.9bil from Monday to Thursday. However, local institutions and retail investors were net buyers.
Counters linked to the previous administration came under selling pressure including MyEG Services.
Construction-related companies such as George Kent, Cahya Mata Sarawak fell sharply on concerns about the review of large scale infrastructure companies.
Toll roads concessionaires such as Litrax fell on a possible review of the tolls.
However, consumer stocks rallied during the week on expectations they would benefit from the scrapping of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on June 1.
On Friday, Nestle rose RM3 to RM145, Dutch Lady
added 66 sen to RM69.96, Carlsberg was up 58 sen to RM20.20, Heineken gained 58 sen to RM23.20, Ajinomoto 42 sen to RM24.22 and F&N 38 sen to RM37.02. BAT fell 34 sen to RM32.36.
Maxis was the biggest mover on the KLCI as its 11 sen gain to RM5.78 pushed the KLCI up 1.54 points. Telekom added 10 sen to RM4.88, Digi four sen to RM4.75 but Axiata shed one sen to RM5.16.
Among the plantations, PPB Group and KL Kepong rose 18 sen each to RM19.98 and RM24.60 while IOI Corp was flat at RM4.75.
Sime Darby was flat at RM2.79, Sime Plantations fell three sen to RM5.52 and Sime Property shed one sen to RM1.43.
As for banks, Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank rose four sen each to RM24.38 and RM18.94, Ambank gained three sen to RM3.53, Maybank was flat at RM10.82, RHB Bank shed two sen to RM5.44 and CIMB eased one sen to RM6.80.
MyEG Services staged a mild rebound, up two sen to 92.5 sen with 258 million shares after the recent battering. There were heightened fears of political risks, following Pakatan Harapan’s win last week.
UOB Kay Hian Malaysia Research upgraded MyEG to buy on weakness as the government service provider’s risk-reward profile has turned positive with share price having plunged 65% over the past few days to trade close to its assessed trough value of 84 sen.
George Kent, which was also battered down, rose six sen to RM1.57.
Sarawak-based Press Metal was the top loser, down 23 sen to RM4.73 and erased 1.59 points from the KLCI. Cahya Mata Sarawak hit limit-down, falling RM1.05 to RM2.48. Dayang Enterprise fell 16 sen to 57.5 sen.
AirAsia fell 25 sen to RM3.21 and WCT lost 12.5 sen to 72 sen.
Pakatan Harapan 's promise to abolish toll collection prompted some selling of the concessionaires, with Lingkaran Trans Kota Holdings Bhd (Litrak) the worst hit. Litrak tumbled RM1.38 to RM3.76, Gamuda lost 24 sen to RM4.09 and IJM nine sen to RM1.96.
Currently, the nine listed toll concessionaires in Malaysia are IJM Corp, WCE Holdings, Taliworks Corp, Ahmad Zaki Resources, Gamuda, Bina Puri, Ekovest, Litrak and MRCB.
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