Banking, Petronas-linked counters lift Bursa Malaysia to end higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed marginally higher today lifted by gains in selected banking and Petronas-linked counters, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.99 points to end at 1,665.02 compared with yesterday's close of 1,663.03.
After opening 0.35 of-a-point higher at 1,663.38, the index moved within a narrow range of 1,663.38 to 1,670.59 throughout the day.
Petronas Gas was among the top five gainers, chalking up 22 sen to RM20.12, while Petronas Chemicals perked five sen to RM7.20.
Among banking counters, Maybank rose four sen to RM8.21, Public Bank added two sen to RM20.08 and CIMB climbed eight sen to RM4.82.
A dealer said the local stock market also took cue from the better external sentiment following British Prime Minister Theresa May's speech which provided investors some clarity on the Brexit developments.
Among other heavyweights, Sime Darby gained three sen to RM8.52, IHH shed nine sen to RM6.23, while TNB was flat at RM13.90.
For actives, Hibiscus Petroleum rose 1.5 sen to 50 sen, Luster Industries inched up half-a-sen to nine sen and IFCA MSC climbed two sen to 43.5 sen.
SKH slipped half-a-sen to 7.5 sen and Matang was flat at 14 sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index improved 18.98 points to 11,680.43, the FBMT 100 Index increased 16.42 points to 11,382.51 but the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 7.63 points to 12,172.21.
The FBM Ace declined 18.25 points to 5,017.62 but the FBM 70 jumped 30.09 points to 13,393.35.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index increased 2.27 points to 3,139.53, the Finance Index rose 56.07 points to 14,734.83 while the Plantation Index fell 6.79 points at 7,906.84.
On the broader market, gainers edged losers 431 to 366, with 370 counters unchanged, 574 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Volume decreased to 1.88 billion shares worth RM1.64 billion from yesterday's 1.98 billion shares worth RM1.67 billion.
Main Market turnover rose to 1.19 billion units worth RM1.52 billion from Tuesday's 1.14 billion units worth RM1.53 billion.
ACE Market volume shrank to 475.64 million shares valued at RM88.80 million from yesterday's 726.08 million shares valued at RM127.58 million.
Warrants increased to 210.11 million units worth RM32.71 million from 117.51 million units worth RM18.04 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 103.06 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (350.29 million), construction (72.26 million), trade and services (369.91 million), technology (68.70 million), infrastructure (5.65 million), SPAC (332,000), finance (66.37 million), hotels (304,800), properties (121.95 million), plantations (22.83 million), mining (nil), REITs (10.53 million), and closed/fund (4,500).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM167.55 per gramme, down 78 sen from RM168.33 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama