Bursa Malaysia ends higher on bargain hunting

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded to end higher today after the key index recorded two straight days of meagre losses as bargain-hunting activities emerged, amid the upbeat performance in most regional peers.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.99 points or 0.41 per cent to 1,458.67 from yesterday’s closing of 1,452.68.

The market bellwether opened 1.29 points better at 1,453.97 and moved between 1,452.64 and 1,461.42 throughout the trading session.

However, on the broader market, decliners beat gainers 454 to 409, while 408 counters were unchanged, 959 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Turnover rose to 2.97 billion units worth RM1.89 billion from Monday's close of 2.84 billion units worth RM1.79 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices were mostly in positive territory as investors took positions ahead of the US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday, which will inform of the central bank’s next moves on its rate hiking decision.

"On the domestic front, we expect investor sentiment to remain cautious ahead of Bank Negara Malaysia's Monetary Policy Committee meeting over the next two days.

"Hence we anticipate the FBM KLCI to remain in sideways pattern within the range of 1,450 to1,470 for the remainder of the week, with immediate resistance at 1,490 and support at 1,440,” he told Bernama.

Region-wise, Singapore's Straits Times Index climbed 0.18 per cent to 3,245.27, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.25 per cent to 28,309.16, while South Korea’s Kospi inched up 0.03 per cent to 2,463.35.

However, China’s SSE Composite Index fell 1.11 per cent to 3,285.10 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 0.33 per cent to 20,534.48.

At home, heavyweights, Sime Darby Plantation gained 21 sen to RM4.51, Press Metal Aluminium perked up six sen to RM5.21, Public Bank increased three sen to RM4.13, IOI Corporation improved eight sen to RM3.98, and Dialog put on nine sen to RM2.40.

Of the actives, Hong Seng added half-a-sen to 14.5 sen, Capital A rose three sen to 77 sen, SMTrack and Bumi Armada were both flat at 4.5 sen and 70 sen respectively, while Minda Global eased half-a-sen to 12.5 sen. - Bernama