Bursa ends marginally higher at Wednesday’s close

BURSA Malaysia pared some of its early gains to end the day marginally higher on bargain-hunting in selected heavyweights led by Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd (HLFG).

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.05 of-a-point to end at 1,597.18, compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,597.13.

Hong Leong Bank rose 16 sen to RM20.58, TM added 12 sen to RM4.88 and HLFG perked up 8 sen to RM19.36. The three heavyweights contributed a combined 1.56 points to the gain in the barometer index.

The FBM KLCI opened 2.49 points firmer at 1,599.62 and moved between 1,596.13 and 1,605.11 throughout the day.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 505 to 394 with 463 counters unchanged, 891 untraded, and 12 others suspended.

Total turnover decreased to 3.54 billion units worth RM2.42 bil from 3.90 billion units worth RM2.44 bil on Tuesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said, regionally, key indices were mixed as investors continued to digest the US inflation data, which showed that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 8.5% year-on-year in March 2022 — its highest level since late 1981.

“With such an inflation rate, we reckon cost pressures will continue to remain a major risk to the US economy,” he told Bernama.

On the domestic front, Thong believes that the market sentiment will remain jittery amid the weak regional market performance.

“As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to hover at the 1,590-1,610 range for the remaining week with immediate resistance at 1,620 and support at 1,580,” he added.

Region-wise, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.93% to 26,843.49, South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.86% to 2,716.49, Singapore’s Straits Times Index climbed 0.36% to 3,342.22, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.26% to 21,374.37, but China’s SSE Composite Index fell 0.82% to 3,186.82.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank increased 2 sen to RM8.84, IHH Healthcare added 8 sen to RM6.44, CIMB lost 5 sen to RM5.28, while both Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM4.67 and RM10.26, respectively.

Of the actives, Techna-X bagged half-a-sen to 10 sen, Vortex fell 2.5 sen to 17 sen, ATA IMS declined 5 sen to 48 sen, CSH Alliance shed half-a-sen to 13.5 sen, while Vizione was flat at 10.5 sen. – April 13, 2022

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