KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher on Dec 23 as losses earlier in the day presented opportunities for bargain-hunting amidst the year-end window dressing.
At 5.00 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.00 points or 0.24% to close at 1,614.18 compared with Friday’s close of 1,610.18.
The benchmark index, which opened lower at 1,606.45, moved between 1,601.23 and 1,615.11 throughout the trading session.
Market breadth was tight with gainers slightly leading losers by 432 to 424, while 377 counters were unchanged, 759 untraded and 29 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 1.95 billion shares worth RM1.49 bil from 2.16 billion shares worth RM2.38 bil on Friday.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said in a note that the key index was likely to stage further recovery, potentially targeting the 1,621-points level.
On the downside, the stockbroking firm said, a pullback would see the FBM KLCI getting support at the 1,585 level.
“Expectedly, the lower liners advanced on bargain-hunting. The strong performance may sustain as traders continue to build their positions,” it said.
On heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM8.62 and RM5.27, respectively, while Public Bank gained 22 sen to RM20.04, Tenaga increased 16 sen to RM13.54 and Axiata rose three sen to RM4.25.
Of the actives, Bumi Armada added 2.5 sen to 51.5 sen, TDM rose two sen to 32.5 sen and Rimbunan Sawit improved 3.5 sen to 36.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index rose 25.04 points to 11,429.78, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 0.86 point to 12,069.4 and the FBMT 100 Index increased 22.45 points to 11,232.88.
Meanwhile, the FBM Ace gained 37.85 points to 5,066.44 and the FBM 70 added 5.96 points to 14,113.94.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 61.01 points to 15,622.54 but the Plantation Index eased 17.66 points to 7,586.49 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.92 point weaker at 153.94.
Main Market volume decreased to 1.39 billion shares worth RM1.36 bil compared with 1.54 billion shares worth RM2.23 bil on Friday.
Warrants turnover declined to 270.57 million units valued at RM46.98 mil from 277.74 million units valued at RM50.47 mil previously.
Volume on the ACE Market trimmed to 291.54 million shares worth RM89.81 mil from 343.63 million shares worth RM102.78 mil previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 196.33 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (117.03 million), construction (155.28 million), technology (124.22 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (34.64 million), property (134.77 million), plantations (157.3 million), REITs (10.53 million), closed/fund (20,000), energy (392.28 million), healthcare (8.00 million), telecommunications and media (25.00 million), transportation and logistics (16.74 million), and utilities (21.16 million). – Bernama
