BURSA Malaysia’s barometer index finished higher on Tuesday as investors bargain hunt for attractive counters following the market slide yesterday.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at its intraday high of 1,607.57, up 7.28 points, compared with yesterday’s close of 1,600.29.
The market bellwether, which opened 0.14 of-a-point higher, moved between 1,591.83 and 1,607.57 during the session.
The overall market breadth was slightly negative with losers outpacing gainers 575 to 506, while 413 counters were unchanged, 672 untraded and seven others suspended.
Total volume increased to 8.16 billion shares worth RM4.08 bil from 7.47 billion shares worth RM4.10 bil on Monday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the local market performance improved despite Asian peers ending mixed as investors digested Bank Indonesia’s move to trim 2020 gross domestic product forecast and India’s daily record COVID-19 death toll.
The republic’s central bank announced today it will keep interest rates unchanged and expects the country’s economy to expand at 4.1% to 5.1% this year from 4.3% to 5.3% previously.
“The transportation and logistics index was the biggest gainer with 1.8%, while technology was the biggest laggard after losing 1%,” Adam told Bernama.
Most of the heavyweights also regained some traction with only six counters in the FBM KLCI ended in the red, as investors piled into recently beaten-down counters, including financial services, energy, plantation, telecommunication, transportation and construction.
Elsewhere on the market, Axiata Group Bhd was 21 sen stronger at RM4.00, Genting Bhd expanded 17 sen to RM4.93, MISC Bhd rose 12 sen to RM6.80, and Genting Malaysia Bhd increased nine sen to RM2.93.
Malayan Banking Bhd was up three sen to RM8.31, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was five sen higher at RM4.29, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd added 14 sen to RM16.90, and DiGi.Com Bhd was three sen better at RM4.25.
Meanwhile, Hartalega Holdings Bhd declined 17 sen to RM9.87, Top Glove Corporation Bhd was six sen weaker at RM5.40 and Supermax Corporation Bhd reduced four sen to RM5.40.
Among the active counters, Ucrest Bhd went up 16 sen to 59.5 sen, Key Asic Bhd inched up three sen to 20.5 sen, and Censof Holdings Bhd rose 10 sen to 48 sen.
Bursa Malaysia today has issued an Unusual Market Activity (UMA) query on the sharp rise in the price and volume of Transocean Holdings Bhd shares, recently.
At close, the counter surged 29.4 per cent or 45 sen to RM1.98 with 878,700 shares transacted.– April 20, 2021
