KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher on Wednesday, with the FBM KLCI breaking past the key 1,800 level, reflecting investors growing confidence after the May 9 General Election and the government's fiscal discipline.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 13.64 points or 0.76% to 1,870.73 as it returned to the positive year-to-date. Turnover was steady at 2.77 billion shares valued at RM2.71bil. There were 590 gainers, 322 losers and 411 counters unchanged.
The ringgit edged up 0.04% against the US dollar to 4.0745.
Earlier in parliament, the Services Tax was passed, replacing the Goods and Services Tax, which will come into effect on Sept 1.The Sales Tax was passed the previous day.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said strict compliance with fiscal discipline as well as better debt management will continue to be given emphasis to tackle the federal debt of over RM1 trillion, according to Bernama.
“Fiscal accountability will reassure investors and the capital market that the government still has flexibility in fiscal and monetary policies,” he explained.
Axiata pushed the KLCI up 3.40 points when it closed 21 sen higher at RM4.55, Digi gained eight sen to RM4.79, Maxis two sen to RM5.75 but Telekom shed three sen to RM3.74.
Genting Malaysia rose 17 sen to RM5.30 and gave the KLCI a 1.8 point boost, Tenaga eight sen higher at RM15.58 and Press Metal
10 sen to RM4.99.
As for banking stocks, CIMB added nine sen to RM5.92, HL Bank 18 sen to RM19.36, Maybank eked out a one sen gain to RM9.90, Public Bank was flat at RM24.32 while RHB Bank fell three sen to RM5.45. BIMB lost nine sen to RM3.74.
US light crude oil rose three cents to US$69.02 and Brent added four cents to US$74.69.
Among the oil and gas stocks, Petronas Gas rose 20 sen to RM19.20, Petronas Dagangan added four sen to RM26.84 but Petronas Chemical shed one sen to RM9.04. Dialog rose 11 sen to RM3.46.
MAHB was up 16 sen to RM9.51, recouping part of the previous day's losses due to profit taking.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM23 to RM2,258 per tonne.
As for plantations, Far East jumped RM1 to a record high of RM14.20 while United Plantations gained 38 sen to RM27.78. PPB Group added 12 sen to RM16.86, KL Kepong six sen to RM24.66 and IOI Corp shed one sen to RM4.69.
Sime Plantation fell three sen to RM5.31, Sime Darby rose three sen to RM2.61 and Sime Property five sen to RM1.36.
Tech stock Vitrox rose 31 sen to RM6.80 on upgrades by analysts.
MRCB was the most active with 123.9 million shares done, climbing four sen to 83.5 sen. MY EG rose four sen to RM1.23 on rising optimism about the e-government services provider.
Frontken climbed four sen to 68 sen after reporting a strong set of earnings.
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