Bursa Malaysia closes at intraday high on late bargain hunting

BURSA Malaysia rose 0.7% to end at an intraday high today, rebounding from earlier losses on late bargain hunting in heavyweight stocks, said a dealer.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 10.48 points to 1,512.05, from Monday’s close of 1,501.57.

The benchmark index opened 0.79 of a point easier at 1,500.78 this morning, hitting a low of 1,496.8 in early trading.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners 453 to 405, while 425 counters were unchanged, 1,049 untraded and 53 others suspended.

Total turnover rose to 2.86 billion units worth RM2.72 billion from 1.94 billion units worth RM1.59 billion on Monday.

Bursa Malaysia opened easier and continued to trade mostly in negative territory, with profit-taking seen in selected heavyweight stocks, bucking Asian equities which were mostly higher in the morning session today.

However, the local bourse rebounded at mid-afternoon to end the day on a firm note, lifted by bargain hunting in heavyweight consumer products and services, financial services and utility counters.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd VP of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices also closed broadly higher despite weak global cues as bargain hunting emerged during late trading sessions.

“As for the local bourse, we reckon the short-term market sentiment will remain slightly positive mainly due to continuous foreign buying. Nonetheless, investors will stay cautious given the increased volatility.

“We anticipate the benchmark index to trend higher, within the range of between 1,500 to 1,520 for the remaining of the week, with immediate support at 1,500 followed by 1,470 with resistance at 1,530,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.14% to 28,195.58, Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.65% to 3,243.34 and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.99% to 2,450.93 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index eased 0.37% to 19,949.03.

Back home, market heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd added three sen to RM8.97, Public Bank Bhd rose eight sen to RM4.71, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd fell 10 sen to RM8.80, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd shed three sen to RM5.37 and IHH Healthcare Bhd lost 14 sen to RM6.20.

Of the actives, My EG Services Bhd rose 8.5 sen to 80 sen, Top Glove Corp Bhd edged up half-a-sen to 80.5 sen, Dagang NeXchange Bhd added one sen to 86 sen while Vortex Consolidated Bhd and Metronic Global Bhd were flat at 18 sen and 7.5 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 72.15 points to 10,697.65, the FBM T100 Index advanced 72.56 points to 10,449.43, the FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 80.12 points to 10,813.46, the FBM 70 perked 88.78 points to 12,712.44 and the FBM ACE bagged 28.64 points to 4,910.44.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 87.3 points higher at 7,193.67, the Energy Index added 5.44 points to 728.54, the Financial Services Index gained 79.53 points to 16,801.92 but the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.72 of-a-point to 182.2.

The Main Market volume rose to 1.66 billion shares worth RM2.34 billion from 1.24 billion shares worth RM1.33 billion on Monday.

The turnover of warrants widened to 373.98 million units valued at RM63.23 million from 309.52 million units valued at RM50.32 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume surged to 833.61 million shares worth RM309.8 million from 397.63 million shares worth RM204.65 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 205.64 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (392.73 million), construction (54.58 million), technology (251.27 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (99.11 million), property (92.54 million), plantation (39.01 million), REITs (11.45 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (210.27 million), healthcare (186.18 million), telecommunications and media (43.7 million), transportation and logistics (41.64 million) and utilities (27.52 million).

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will be closed on Wednesday, Aug 31, 2022, for the National Day holiday and will resume operations on Thursday, Sept 1, 2022. — Bernama / pic Bloomberg