Bursa Malaysia ends at intra-day high on continuous buying support

KUALA LUMPUR: Continuous buying in selected industrial products and services as well as healthcare counters lifted Bursa Malaysia to close at its intraday high today, with more investors becoming more confident over the bullish domestic economic outlook, dealers said.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 13.77 points or 0.90 per cent to 1,546.82, from Monday’s close of 1,533.05.

The index, which opened 0.46 of-a-point higher at 1,533.51, moved to as low as 1,526.28 during the day.

Meanwhile, market breadth was negative with decliners surpassing gainers 594 to 463, while 409 counters were unchanged, 837 untraded and 24 others suspended.

Turnover advanced to 5.45 billion units worth RM3.29 billion from Monday’s 4.38 billion units worth RM2.98 billion.

A dealer said that the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) 2021-2025 tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in the Parliament yesterday seemed to have provided some boost to investors’ sentiments on the local market.

"As the 12MP aims to revive the country’s pandemic-hit economy, huge development expenditure was allocated and we reckon this should be positive for the construction sector as the sector provides the highest multiplier effect on the economy,” he said.

Meanwhile, ActivTrades trades Anderson Alves said Asian equities steadied on Tuesday after a mixed performance on the Wall Street, where the United States (US) Treasury yields had climbed as the US Federal Reserve’s (US Fed) rhetoric reinforced the view that the time for the bond tapering process is close.

"Markets will be waiting for further comments from the US Fed chair, Jerome Powell and policymakers.

"Evergrande's theme also continues to dominate sentiment, with the People's Bank of China saying it would ensure a healthy property market and protect home buyers' rights,” he said in a research note today.

Back home, Petronas Chemicals and Hartalega were the top two contributors towards the benchmark index with a total of 8.76 points, as the counters rose by 39 sen and 53 sen to RM8.65 and RM6.06, respectively.

Among other heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.10, Public Bank added 3.0 sen to RM4.11, IHH Healthcare went up 2.0 sen to RM6.70, TNB improved 5.0 sen to RM9.90 and CIMB rose 4.0 sen to RM4.74.

Of the actives, Fintec and Pegasus Heights eased half-a-sen each to 1.5 sen and 1.0 sen, respectively, while KNM earned half-a-sen to 25 sen and Kanger International was flat at 5.0 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 56.64 points to 11,331.83, the FBMT 100 Index was 59.55 points better at 11,028.99, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 88.64 points to 12,375.28.

The FBM 70 shed 70.72 points to 14,892.18, while the FBM ACE slipped 59.58 points to 7,186.08.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 2.83 points to 204.09 and the Plantation Index went up 11.91 points to 6,335.56, while the Financial Services Index eased 0.46 of-a-point to 15,231.03. - Bernama