BURSA Malaysia closed at its intraday high today with the benchmark composite index rising 1.4% on continuous buying support in selected financial services stocks led by Maybank and Public Bank, a dealer said.
The two heavyweights contributed a combined 6.26 points to the gains in the market bellwether.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) surged 21.42 points to 1,551.51 from 1,530.09 at Tuesday’s close.
The index, which opened 1.10 points higher at its intraday low of 1,531.19, moved steadily throughout the session.
Overall market breadth was positive with advancers outnumbering decliners 579 to 412, while 411 counters were unchanged, 811 untraded, and 10 others suspended.
Total turnover improved to 2.96 billion units worth RM2.52 bil against 2.85 billion units worth RM2.17 bil at yesterday’s close.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the key regional markets also showed upbeat performance following positive cues from Wall Street overnight.
“Investors continued their bargain-hunting activities while at the same time optimistic on positive corporate earnings news across the region.
“As for the local bourse, we expect the uptrend to continue due to improved market sentiment and renewed optimism,” he told Bernama.
Thong said the FBM KLCI was expected to trade within the 1,545-1,560 range for the remainder of the week.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.45 per cent to 3,417.11, Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased 1.08% to 27,579.87, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 2.06% to 24,829.99, while China’s SSE Composite Index put on 0.79% to 3,479.95.
Back home, heavyweights, Maybank advanced 15 sen to RM8.50, Public Bank added 9 sen to RM4.30, both CIMB and Digi improved 16 sen to RM5.40 and RM3.99, respectively, and Press Metal firmed 19 sen to RM6.49.
Of the actives, VSolar rose half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, AirAsia added 2.5 sen to 68.5 sen, DneX perked up 4.5 sen to RM1.02, while MMAG eased half-a-sen to 8 sen and Sedania soared 10.5 sen to 50.5 sen. – Feb 9, 2022