BURSA Malaysia closed at its intraday high for the second consecutive day today with the benchmark composite index rising 1.2%, lifted by banking, technology and plantation counters, amid positive regional market sentiment, a dealer said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped by 18.59 points to 1,570.10 from 1,551.51 at yesterday’s close.
The index, which opened 1.09 points lower to hit its intraday low of 1,550.42, moved in an uptrend mode throughout the session.
Overall market breadth was positive with advancers outnumbering decliners 567 to 400, while 424 counters were unchanged, 827 untraded, and 24 others suspended.
Total turnover improved to 3.20 billion units worth RM2.62 bil versus 2.96 billion units worth RM2.52 bil at yesterday’s close.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI had broken the 1,570 technical resistance and the key index may be heading towards the 1,600 mark.
“Overall, we believe the market undertone remains steady due to improving investor sentiment and reckon that the index will stay positive going forward as foreign funds continue to return although intermittent profit-taking may set in.
“On the other hand, we are also wary of external factors given the increasing regional market volatility amid the looming interest hike by the US Federal Reserve,” he told Bernama.
Thong said the market bellwether was expected to trend within the 1,565-1,580 range towards the weekend.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank each added 5 sen to RM8.55 and RM4.35, respectively, Sime Darby Plantation jumped 26 sen to RM3.92, Press Metal gained 19 sen to RM6.80, CIMB rose 14 sen to RM5.54, and KL Kepong improved 68 sen to RM22.74.
As for the actives, Dagang NeXchange rose five sen to RM1.07, SMTrack and AT Systematization were half-a-sen higher at 19 sen and 3 sen, respectively, while MMAG was flat at 8 sen and BSL Corp eased 2 sen to 50 sen. – Feb 10, 2022
