BURSA Malaysia today broke through the 1,600 psychological level, accumulating gains of 5% during its seven-day rally.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 1% or 16.47 points to 1,600.38 from 1,583.91 at Tuesday’s close.
The bellwether index opened 1.04 points lower at 1,582.87.
Market breadth was positive as gainers outnumbered losers 577 to 460, while 413 counters were unchanged, 829 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover, however, decreased to 4.49 billion units worth RM3.34 bil from 5.19 billion units worth RM3.55 bil on Tuesday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said foreign buying continued to anchor the uptrend as sentiment remained positive amid the reopening of travel borders and increasing economic activities.
The rise in the benchmark index was mainly supported by banking heavyweights.
“Though a correction is anticipated, we believe the intermittent profit-taking activities will soften the impact.
“We reckon the index to hover within the 1,595-1,605 range for the remaining of the week. From the technical point of view, we see immediate resistance at 1,620 while immediate support is at 1,550,” he told Bernama.
Regional equity markets were mostly ended in the green. The oil market fell amid concerns over demand growth but Brent crude remained above US$83 per barrel.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose six sen to RM8.29, MISC was 21 sen higher at RM7.11, Public Bank increased three sen to RM4.19, Hartalega advanced 10 sen to RM6.07, RHB Bank added 17 sen to RM5.72, and Sime Darby expanded nine sen to RM2.37.
Meanwhile, Axiata and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM4.10 and RM8.75, respectively, while Top Glove lost four sen to RM2.79 and Petronas Gas slipped eight sen to RM17.
As for the active counters, Serba Dinamik dropped half-a-sen to 41 sen, Sarawak Consolidated eased one sen to 49.5 sen, MYEG inched up five sen to RM1.07, and Brahims was one sen better at 52.5 sen. – Oct 13, 2021
