BURSA Malaysia extended yesterday’s modest gains to end higher on Wednesday influenced by bullish external factors with crude oil closing at its highest level since October 2018 and economies crawling out from the pandemic.
At the same time, investors are eyeing the US payrolls data to be released on Friday for a better view on the current labour market situation – providing clues for the Federal Reserve.
Asian shares meanwhile are mixed.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) surged 12.04 points or 0.76% to finish at 1,597.94 versus 1,585.90 at Tuesday’s close.
The index today slightly breached the earlier target set by Rakuten Trade which expected it to trend within the 1,585-1,595 range today.
The FBM KLCI opened 0.43 points lower at 1,585.47 and moved between 1,585.47 and 1,598.61 throughout the day.
Meanwhile, buying support for stocks across the board boosted market breadth with gainers thumping losers 711 to 362, while 431 counters were unchanged, 630 untraded, and 11 others suspended.
Buying momentum was however slightly lower at 7.44 billion units worth RM4.01 bil compared with 8.98 billion units worth RM5.13 bil recorded at Tuesday’s close.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI gained 0.80% today to reach 1597.94 points, and out of the 30 index members, only three recorded losses while gainers were led by RHB Bank which advanced by 3.0% amid news that the banking group has teamed up with Axiata to apply for a digital bank licence.
“As for the sectoral indices, all indices were green today amid a firmer Brent crude oil price following agreement reached by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC partners to gradually ease production cuts amid the expected higher crude oil demand.
“Further aiding the sentiment was the US manufacturing activity which rose in May, as pent-up demand boosted orders, combined with encouraging factory data in China, which could cushion Malaysia’s domestic demand in light of the full-scale lockdown,” he told Bernama.
Adam said trading participation amongst retail investors remained strong too as reflected in the FBM Small Cap Index which jumped by 1.4% today, amid the overall positive vibe which coincided with the second day of the full-scale lockdown whereby the retail investors tended to be more active.
Among the 30 FBM KLCI counters, Malayan Banking Bhd rose four sen to RM8.24, Public Bank Bhd added three sen to RM4.24, Petronas Chemical Group Bhd improved two sen to RM8.07, and Tenaga Nasional Bhd was one sen higher at RM9.95.
Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd emerged the top gainer, rising RM1.18 to RM27.38, Time DotCom Bhd surged 52 sen to RM14.40, and Panasonic Manufacturing Msia Bhd perked up 50 sen to RM33.
Among the actives, Joe Holding Bhd inched up half-a-sen to 4.5 sen, Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd fell one sen to 82.5 sen, and Focus Dynamics Group Bhd was flat at five sen. – June 2, 2021
