KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended trading today on a firm note, lifted by oil and gas-linked counters amid a crude oil prices rally.
At 5 pm, key index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) climbed 8.24 points, or 0.62%, to 1,330.90 from 1,322.66 at Wednesday’s close.
The FBM KLCI opened 2.04 points lower at 1,320.62 at 9 am and hovered between 1,316.94 and 1,332.61 throughout the day.
Market breadth stayed positive, with gainers outpacing losers 671 to 203, while 308 counters were unchanged, 739 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover was high with 5.14 billion shares worth RM2.43 bil traded compared with 4.74 billion shares worth RM2.77 bil yesterday.
Maybank Investment Bank Bhd remisier Jeffry Azizi Jaafar said the benchmark Brent crude oil price surging as much as 12% to US$27.88 per barrel earlier Thursday had boosted investor sentiment in the market.
“Brent crude oil rose after US President Donald Trump was reported as saying that he expected Saudi Arabia and Russia to reach a deal soon to end their oil price war.
“At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin also reportedly called for a solution to address the challenging crude oil markets,” he added.
Jeffry Azizi said bargain hunting was also seen in some energy and technology-linked stocks today, in addition to the positive sentiment buoyed by the recent stimulus packages announced globally.
Among heavyweights, Petronas Dagangan and Petronas Gas led the gains among the index-linked counters. Both the O&G-related counters were also among the top gainers on the local bourse.
Petronas Dagangan surged RM1.32 to RM21.70 and Petronas Gas added 34 sen to RM15.30, while Press Metal, Public Bank and Genting gained 12 sen each to RM3.18, RM15.80 and RM3.88, respectively.
Top gainers included Nestle, which soared RM1.70 to RM137.80. QL Resources accumulated 40 sen to RM7.90 and Heng Yuan was 32 sen firmer at RM2.78, while Petron Malaysia and Serba Dinamik bagged 29 sen each to RM3.35 and RM1.79, respectively.
The most active list was dominated by O&G-linked counters. Sapura Energy rose 1.5 sen to nine sen, Hibiscus climbed 9.5 sen to 43 sen and Velesto was 4.5 sen better at 16.5 sen, while Armada and Alam Maritim strengthened three sen each to 16.5 sen and 7.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 99.57 points to 9,185.75, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 134.54 points firmer at 10,057.93, and the FBMT 100 Index climbed 87.66 points to 9.096.53.
The FBM 70 was 233.56 points higher at 10,744.76 and the FBM Ace added 73.30 points to 3,966.48.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.35 points to 104.89, the Financial Services Index increased 32.54 points to 12,076.99 and the Plantation Index was 19.0 points better at 6,126.28.
Main Market volume widened to 4.29 billion shares valued at RM2.22 bil from 3.64 billion shares valued at RM2.47 bil on Wednesday.
Warrants turnover, however, was lower at 320.69 million units worth RM96.84 mil compared with 371.73 million units worth RM99.24 mil yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market shrank to 531.76 million shares valued at RM112.11 mil versus 721.70 million shares valued at RM192.26 mil yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 316.95 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (412.51 million), construction (229.27 million), technology (269.62 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (53.67 million), property (232.72 million), plantations (52.84 million), REITs (21.74 million), closed/fund (23,000), energy (2.50 billion), healthcare (39.44 million), telecommunications and media (52.20 million), transportation and logistics (71.71 million), and utilities (31.87 million). – April 2, 2020, Bernama
