LATE buying in selected heavyweights, led by healthcare as well as industrial products and services counters has pushed Bursa Malaysia from earlier losses to end at an intra-day high, in line with the bullish sentiment on regional bourses, dealers said.
IHH Healthcare and Petronas Chemicals were among the top gainers, putting on 11 sen each to end at RM6.60 and RM9.98 respectively, and contributed a total of 3.2 points to the gains in the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI).
At 5pm, the benchmark index rose 5.61 points, or 0.36%, to 1,546.76 from Thursday’s close of 1,541.15, after hitting a low of 1,531.56 during the trading session.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.45 of-a-point lower at 1,540.70., remained in negative territory for the most part of the day.
However, market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing advancers 535 to 400, while 411 counters were unchanged, 964 untraded and 40 others suspended.
Total turnover slipped to 2.78 billion units worth RM2.01 bil from 2.89 billion units worth RM1.92 bil on Thursday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the key regional markets ended in positive territory following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with buying interests mainly in technology and energy stocks.
“Investors also continued to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following recent weakness,” he told Bernama today.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.60% to 3,228.33, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.66% to 26,781.68, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.89% to 20,697.36, South Korea’s KOSPI increased 0.98% to 2,638.05, and China’s SSE Composite Index gained 0.23% to 3,130.24.
Back home, heavyweights Maybank added 1 sen to RM8.99, Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank improved 2 sen each to RM4.62 and RM21 respectively, while Tenaga Nasional and CIMB rose 4 sen each to RM9.25 and RM5.05 respectively.
Of the actives, Cnergenz declined 5 sen to 62.5 sen, Ta Win fell 1 sen to 11.5 sen, DNeX shed 3 sen to RM1.01 while Sapura Energy earned half a sen to 8 sen.
On the index board, the FBM ACE decreased 59.28 points to 5,146.70, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 38.07 points to 11,391.89, the FBM Emas Index improved 26.58 points to 11,011.12, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 31.87 points to 10,707.68, and the FBM 70 put on 10.56 points to 13,098.56.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.07 points higher at 199.41, the Plantation Index gained 21.03 points to 8,009.72, and the Financial Services Index rose 54.50 points to 16,644.41. – May 27, 2022
