KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed at its intraday high on Dec 17, riding a wave of optimism on the revival of the Bandar Malaysia project, analyst said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.48% or 7.60 points to 1,576.95 compared with Dec 16’s close of 1,569.35.
The benchmark index, which opened at 1,571.87, moved between 1,564.25 and 1,576.95 throughout the day.
Market breadth, however, was on the borderline, with losers slightly surpassing gainers 416 to 407, while 394 counters were unchanged, 781 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 2.34 billion shares worth RM1.99 bil.
Online equity broker Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee said the signing of the agreement on the project on Dec 17 signalled a good start for the infrastructure sector as spillover will also be seen in the financial and construction sectors.
“The revival of the project, with an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM140 bil, will boost investors’ confidence, and building such a mega project needs the support of other services to co-exist in the ecosystem,” he said.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Dec 17 witnessed the agreement signing to develop Bandar Malaysia between IWH CREC Sdn Bhd (IWH-CREC) and TRX City Sdn Bhd (TRXC).
TRXC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Minister of Finance (Incorporated), while IWH-CREC is a consortium comprising Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corp (M) Sdn Bhd (CRECM).
Ekovest Bhd, which emerged as the most active counter, will be among the beneficiaries of the project as it shares a common shareholder with IWH, namely Tan Sri Lim Kang Ho. Ekovest’s share price, however, shed 2.5 sen to 86 sen, while Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd fell four sen to 98 sen.
Besides that, Yee noted that most investors started to undertake window dressing as the end of the year is approaching.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.55, Tenaga and Public Bank added 16 sen each to RM13.22 and RM19.00, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.24 and CIMB eased four sen to RM5.22.
Of the other active stocks, AT and MLab were flat at four sen and five sen, respectively.
As for top gainers, BAT rose 78 sen to RM15.36, United Plantations added 28 sen to RM26.28 and Top Glove increased 21 sen to RM4.66.
The FBM Emas Index soared 47.07 points to 11,229.36, the FBM Emas Shariah Index appreciated 52.06 points to 11,882.72, and the FBMT 100 Index improved 49.78 points to 11,027.15.
Meanwhile, the FBM Ace jumped 103.73 points to 5,054.07 and the FBM 70 ticked up 49.64 points to 14,075.30.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 42.47 points to 15,277.28, the Plantation Index gained 36.50 points to 7,542.57, while the Industrial Products and Services Index lost 0.18 point to 152.47.
Main Market volume marginally declined to 1.58 billion shares valued at RM1.86 bil compared with 1.59 billion shares worth RM1.60 bil on Dec 16.
Warrants turnover rose to 335.14 million units worth RM60.58 mil compared with 309.44 million units valued at RM54.21 mil.
Meanwhile, volume on the ACE Market advanced to 423.02 million valued at RM126.60 mil compared with 387.94 million worth RM101.86 mil previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 244.89 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (207.77 million), construction (159.86 million), technology (155.43 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (42.39 million), property (241.18 million), plantations (110.41 million), REITs (15.37 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (295.30 million), healthcare (21.81 million), telecommunications and media (28.18 million), transportation and logistics (37.49 million), and utilities (27.83 million). – Bernama
