MALAYAN Banking Bhd (Maybank) and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PChem) lifted the local bourse’s key market index, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI), to end at an intraday high, erasing yesterday’s losses altogether.
At the close today, the benchmark index rose 2.0 per cent to 1,519.43 after moving as low as 1,495.28 during the day.
On the broader market, losers were slightly ahead of gainers at 503 to 469 while 441 counters were unchanged, 734 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Total volume increased to 6.28 billion units worth RM3.23 billion compared with yesterday’s 5.25 billion shares worth RM3.60 billion.
An analyst said for the day, the market was mainly driven by institutional investors that supported the FBM KLCI.
“Retail investors, meanwhile, were targeting stocks that had been oversold over the past week, especially mid and small cap stocks, while some were reaping profits on ACE market stocks,” she said.
On market sentiment, she said that the underlying support remained strong but cautious as market movement remained volatile driven by developments on Covid-19 cases, vaccines, US-China spat, US presidential election and Budget 2021.
On the local front, she said the latest political play by opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, did not have an impact on the local bourse today, as it had been factored in by investors.
From the technical analysis perspective, the local bourse remained in the oversold position with a short-term uptrend driven by local support.
“The immediate resistance is placed at 1,525 with the underlying support of 1,485,” she said.
Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals gained 30 sen to RM6.00, Maybank rose 20 sen to RM7.30, Petronas Gas added 84 sen to RM16.94, Public Bank jumped 42 sen to RM16.00 and Sime Darby Plantation was 16 sen higher at RM5.05.
These five companies pushed the composite index 18.49 points higher today.
As for the top gainers, consumer stocks continued to lead, with Nestle increasing RM3.30 sen to RM141.80, F&N inching up RM1.34 to RM33.34 and Hong Leong Financial climbing 62 sen to RM14.48.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 169.86 points to 10,958.17 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 161.59 points to 13,063.71.
The FBM 70 gained 90.39 points to 14,363.19 and the FBMT 100 Index strengthened 175.26 points to 10,782.80 but the FBM ACE shed 16.32 points to 10,485.68.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 277.02 points higher at 12,580.16, the Plantation Index added 143.77 points to 7,031.32 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 3.45 points stronger at 141.34.
Warrants turnover declined to 589.31 million worth RM107.06 mil compared with 618.34 million units worth RM150.09 mil yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 1.72 billion worth RM604.08 mil from 1.31 billion shares worth RM498.90 mil on Wednesday. – Oct 8, 2020, Bernama
