BURSA Malaysia ended on a firm note today after two days of losses on bargain hunting in heavyweights, despite the weaker performance on Wall Street overnight.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 21.68 points to end at its intraday high of 1,600.59, just a whisker above the psychological 1,600 level, compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,578.91.
The index opened 5.47 points higher at 1,584.38, and moved between 1,580.90 and 1,600.59 throughout the trading session.
On the broader market, gainers beat losers 590 versus 440, while 465 counters were unchanged, 637 untraded and 10 others suspended.
Total volume increased to 6.30 billion shares valued at RM3.62 bil from 6.27 billion shares valued at RM3.22 bil on Tuesday.
The regional market performance was mixed with Singapore’s Straits Times Index easing 0.35% to 3,196.38, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was 0.12% better at 29,730.79, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down by 0.91% to 28,674.80, and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.33% to 3,137.41.
A dealer said the local bourse opened firmer today and stayed in the positive territory throughout the session on bargain hunting, rebounding from its previous two days of losses, but the regional peers remained mixed amid cautious trading following negative cues from Wall Street.
“The US equities pulled back from the prior session’s record closing highs as investors are cautious over the upcoming quarterly earnings reports, while awaiting the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting on Wednesday for market direction,” he said.
He said the investors also remained wary over China’s central bank’s directive to the nation’s major lenders to curtail loan growth for the rest of this year after a surge in the first two months on bubble risks concerns.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim told Bernama the successful vaccine rollouts in the US and UK combined with sturdy economic data had boosted investors risk appetite and aided sentiment for emerging market assets.
“But gains were capped by heightened geopolitical tensions between China and Taiwan as the latter said it will fight to the end if China attacks,” he said.
Locally, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd emerged as one of the biggest gainers, recouping yesterday’s losses, to push up the Bursa Malaysia Plantation Index by 1.99% to be the biggest winner today, while Maybank and glove counters also made hefty gains, he added.
Of the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd surged 17 sen to RM8.48, Public Bank Bhd added two sen to RM4.22, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and IHH Healthcare Bhd rose 10 sen each to RM10.26 and RM5.40, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was flat at RM7.95.
Among the active counters, Berjaya Corporation Bhd improved 4.5 sen to 45 sen, Dagang NeXchange Bhd rose 5.5 sen to 86 sen, Macpie Bhd shed one sen to 9.5 sen, and MLabs Systems Bhd eased half-a-sen to four sen. – April 7, 2021
