KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the week in positive territory at its intraday high today, taking the cue from the improved performance of regional markets and optimism surrounding China’s reopening as well as the weakening of the US dollar, a dealer said.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 6.37 points or 0.42 per cent to reach its intraday high of 1,495.03 from yesterday's closing of 1,488.66.
The market bellwether opened 0.61 of-a-point weaker at 1,488.05.
Market breadth was positive with gainers surpassing decliners 517 to 382, while 408 counters were unchanged, 895 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 3.40 billion units worth RM2.02 billion against yesterday's 3.57 billion units worth RM2.75 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that key regional indices ended mostly higher following the positive cue from Wall Street overnight as easing inflationary pressure in the United States may cause central banks to slow down the pace of interest rate hikes.
Region-wise, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index inched up 1.04 per cent to 21,738.66, China’s SSE Composite Index added 1.01 per cent to 3,195.31, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.89 per cent to 2,386.09 and Singapore's Straits Times Index improved by 0.70 per cent to 3,290.56
However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 1.25 per cent to 26,119.52.
"As for the local bourse, we expect the buying momentum to continue given the strong support from the local institutions," he told Bernama.
Among heavyweights, IHH Healthcare added one sen to RM5.99, Press Metal
gained nine sen to RM5.08, Maybank rose six sen to RM8.86, Petronas Chemicals and IOI Corp improved by five sen each to RM8.40 and RM3.99.
As for the actives, Serba Dinamik added one sen to two sen, Nationgate increased six sen to RM1.06, Zen Tech International and Velesto Energy firmed 1.5 sen to four sen and 17.5 sen, while DNeX declined 1.5 sen to 56.6 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 43.04 points to 10,785.80, the FBMT 100 Index inched up 41.49 points to 10,482.57, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 31.87 points firmer at 10,976.72.
The FBM 70 Index was 39.20 points better at 13,380.67 and the FBM ACE Index garnered 26.85 points to 5,455.48.
Sector-wise, the Energy Index climbed 6.67 points to 822.94, the Technology Index inched 0.67 of-a-point up to 66.96, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 1.48 points to 185.29, while the Financial Services Index rose 83.46 points to 16,621.15 and the Plantation Index gained 0.29 of-a-point to 6,922.91.
The Main Market volume was stronger to 2.09 billion shares worth RM1.53 billion compared with Thursday’s 1.80 billion shares worth RM1.76 billion.
Warrants turnover eased to 317.53 million units worth RM65.01 million from 334.13 million units worth RM81.89 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume decreased to 987.01 million shares worth RM415.28 million from 1.43 billion shares worth RM907.77 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 216.43 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (582.48 million); construction (56.07 million); technology (288.83 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (56.64 million); property (101.20 million); plantation (27.51 million); REITs (8.12 million), closed/fund (nil); energy (634.00 million); healthcare (59.96 million); telecommunications and media (25.17 million); transportation and logistics (32.41 million); and utilities (9.67 million). - Bernama
