BURSA Malaysia ended higher today, taking a cue from the better performance on Wall Street last Friday and strong commodity prices amid receding concerns over the Omicron variant’s impact on global economic growth, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.98 points to 1,494.86 compared with 1,488.88 at last Friday’s close.
The index, which opened 3 points higher at 1,491.88, moved between 1,491.85 and 1,501.88 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 491 to 386, while 439 counters were unchanged, 979 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 2.63 billion units valued at RM1.85 bil from Friday’s 2.60 billion units valued at RM1.74 bil.
A dealer said the local bourse rebounded from last Friday’s losses to open higher and stayed in positive territory throughout the day, bucking the regional market trend which turned mixed at close.
Persistent buying in heavyweights stocks led by Petronas Chemicals (PetChem), Tenaga Nasional and financial sector stocks continued to support the barometer index, he said.
“Investors are focusing more on the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting this week as well as other central banks for further clues on the monetary policies going forward.
“However, major attention will be given to the FOMC’s reaction to the Omicron variant, as well as the timing of its stimulus tapering and rate hikes, for market direction,” he added.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.71% to 28,640.49, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index eased 0.17% to 23,954.58, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.28% to 3,001.66, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index shed 0.35% to 3,124.66.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said investors were cautious ahead of monetary policy meetings this week, including of the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.
“As for the local bourse, we remain cautious despite the bargain hunting today due to the heightened market volatility and external uncertainties.
“Hence we expect the benchmark index to remain in range-bound trading in the 1,490 to 1,505 range for the remainder of the week with immediate resistance at 1,515 and support at 1,485,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, PetChem surged 13 sen to RM8.55 and Tenaga jumped 12 sen to RM9.28.
Maybank and CIMB gained six sen each to RM8.18 and RM5.24, respectively, and Public Bank improved one sen to RM4, but IHH Healthcare eased two sen to RM6.56.
Of the actives, ATA IMS bagged 2.5 sen to 54 sen, Lambo edged up half-a-sen to five sen, Dataprep shed five sen to RM1.04, Macpie eased half-a-sen to four sen, and Kanger was flat at two sen. – Dec 13, 2021
