KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed firmer today as trading resumed after the long weekend, supported by optimism over a potential US Federal Reserve rate cut and buying interest in heavyweights.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 7.44 points, or 0.47%, to 1,585.59 after an intraday high of 1,587.16 and a low of 1,579.57.
In the broader market, 548 counters advanced against 434 decliners, putting market breadth at 1.26 and signalling that the bulls held the upper hand. Traded volume stood at 2.15 billion shares valued at RM1.94bil.
On the local bourse, Nestle jumped 76 sen to RM94, PETRONAS Dagangan rose 34 sen to RM22.14, PPB Group added 30 sen to RM9.90 and Tenaga climbed 26 sen to RM13.32.
Heineken was the top loser on Bursa Malaysia, sliding 54 sen to RM20.52. Allianz eased 32 sen to RM18.04, Panasonic Manufacturing
declined 29 sen to RM8.96, while Carlsberg shed 28 sen to RM16.60.
Among banks, Maybank and Public Bank edged up one sen each to RM10 and RM4.28, respectively.
RHB Bank climbed eight sen to RM6.58, Hong Leong Bank advanced two sen to RM20.08, while AmBank ended flat at RM5.50.
Meanwhile, the ringgit strengthened 0.24% against the US dollar to 4.2190, its biggest gain in a week, but slipped to 3.2881 versus the Singapore dollar
Asian markets closed broadly higher today, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbing 1.45%, South Korea’s Kospi advancing 0.45%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.38% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.85%.
Taiwan and Singapore benchmark indexes hit record highs, while the Kospi marked its strongest level in nearly four weeks.
