Bursa ends 9.85 points higher led by Axiata, Digi

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended higher on Friday, amid persistent buying interest led by Axiata Group Bhd and Digi.com Bhd on the back of ongoing mega merger talks.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 9.85 points, or 0.61% to 1,612.25. The index opened 12.55 points higher at 1,614.95 this morning.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 558 to 511 with 452 counters unchanged. A total of 6.58 billion shares worth RM4.14bil changed hands.

Dealers said the Axiata-Telenor mega-merger talks provided a catalyst to the local bourse while Asian equities are trading lower today. They added that the merger is positive for the telco industry.

Digi surged 71 sen, or 18.93% to RM4.46, pushing the index higher by 8.5635 points. Axiata rose 31 sen to RM4.11, adding 4.4111 points to the index.

Maxis gained nine sen to RM4.80, pushing the higher by 1.0922 points and Telekom Malaysia climbed three sen to RM6.09, nudging the index 0.1756 points higher.

Among the banks, Maybank added one sen to RM8.29, Public Bank lost one sen to RM4.20, CIMB gained two sen to RM4.29, RHB rose one sen to RM5.40 and Hong Leong Bank shed 12 sen to RM18.52.

Meanwhile, glove makers are among the top losers on Bursa Malaysia.

Supermax and Kossan declined 30 sen each to RM4.57 and RM3.36 respectively.

Hartalega fell 25 sen to RM9.89, Comfort lost 17 sen to RM2.19, Top Glove declined 17 sen to RM5.23 and Careplus fell 15 sen to RM1.64.

Among the key regional markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 309.27 points, or 1.07%, at 28,698.80.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index ended up 0.2% at 29,768.06 while South Korea’s Kospi closed down 11.38 points, or 0.36%, at 3,131.88.

China’s CSI300 index fell 1.5% to 5,035.34, while the Shanghai Composite Index eased 0.9% to 3,450.68.