BURSA Malaysia was higher today on persistent buying support in selected heavyweights but closed off its intraday peak amid improved market sentiment, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 4.45 points to end the day at 1,495.78 compared with Wednesday’s close of 1,491.33.
The market bellwether, which opened 2.32 points better at 1,493.65, fluctuated between 1,491.01 and 1,498.92 throughout the session.
Digi was the largest contributor to the rise in the composite index with 1.548 points. The telecommunications counter rose 11 sen to RM4.30 with 2.06 million shares changing hands.
The overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers at 517 versus 435, while 450 counters were unchanged, 790 untraded, and 10 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 4.69 billion units valued at RM2.42 bil from 3.67 billion units worth RM2.53 bil on Wednesday.
“Looking at the broader scale, the FBM KLCI bucked the regional trend as most of its Asian peers such as Thailand, South Korea and the Philippines were in the red amid hawkish comments by the United States Federal Reserve, which stated that it may taper its asset purchasing programme soon.
“Gains were registered despite the COVID-19 cases reaching another record high today as investors were probably bargain hunting,” Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim told Bernama.
Another dealer said market sentiment has somewhat recovered as the political uncertainty was addressed following Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday on the resumption of the Parliament sitting next month, as well as the increasing vaccination rate.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank gained three sen to RM8.04, IHH added one sen to RM5.72, CIMB rose four sen to RM4.55, while Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM3.96 and RM8 respectively. Tenaga, however, fell 11 sen to RM9.72.
Among the actives, Vsolar and Saudee inched up half-a-sen each to 1.5 sen and 9.5 sen respectively, Fintec and Kanger were flat at 2.5 sen and 6.5 sen respectively, while Kejuruteraan Asastera slipped two sen to 59 sen. – Aug 5, 2021
