KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia kicked off the week on a strong note, with the FBM KLCI advancing 0.73% amid follow-through buying momentum.
At 5pm, the benchmark index ended 11.69 points higher at 1,611.81. It opened 7.36 points higher at 1,607.48 this morning.
There were 621 gainers and 647 losers while 397 counters were unchanged. Turnover stood at 9.8 billion shares worth RM6.27bil.
Adding to the positive tone, crude oil prices surpassed the US$70 per barrel since the pandemic, putting oil and gas (O&G) stocks in the limelight today.
Brent was last traded at US$69.99 per barrel, up 63 cents while US WTI added 59 cents to US$66.68.
On Bursa Malaysia, Heineken was the top gainer, adding 90 sen to RM25.60. Carlsberg rose 54 sen to RM23.84, Petronas Chemicals advanced 53 sen to RM8.35 and Hong Leong Financial Group gained 50 sen to RM17.80.
Semiconductors and technology stocks led the losers’ list on Bursa Malaysia. MPI plunged RM4.52 to RM34.88, Vitrox shed RM1.22 to RM14.60, UWC declined 68 sen to RM5.13, KESM lost RM62 sen to RM12.88.
Unisem fell 59 sen to RM7.50 and Pentamaster lost 47 sen to RM5.25.
O&G stocks dominated the most active list on Bursa Malaysia. DNeX added 8.5 sen to 72 sen, Sapura Energy
climbed one sen to 16 sen and Velesto rose 1.5 sen to 19 sen.
KNM and Bumi Armada added 0.5 sen each to 21 sen and 46 sen respectively.
Among key heavyweights, Maybank added 14 sen to RM8.50, Public Bank rose five sen to RM4.40, Tenaga climbed six sen to RM10.40, Genting rose 17 sen to RM5.11 and Hong Leong Bank gained 22 sen to RM18.90.
In a report, TA Securities said the economic recovery theme will continue to dictate the upward momentum in the local equity market this week with more drivers supporting the increasingly brighter outlook.
“While most recovery plays in the banking, gaming, aviation and oil and gas sectors have been enjoying a steady rally since late January on vaccine optimism and may continue to garner strong interest due to their cheap valuation vis-à-vis their earnings growth potential, there should be some rotational interest into the undervalued property sector as well in the coming months,” it said.
This is because most stocks in the sector are trading at CY22 price-to-book multiples of 0.2 to 0.4x only, which is about a 40 to 60% discount to their last 5-year average, TA said.
On the external front, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.42%, or 121.07 points to close at 28,743.25.
South Korea’s Kospi closed down 30.15 points, or 1.00%, at 2,996.11.
China’s CSI300 index fell 3.5% to 5,080.02 while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.3% to 3,421.41.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 557.46 points, or 1.92%, at 28,540.83.
