BNM's rate hike pushes up Bursa Malaysia at close

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia's decision to increase the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points to 3.25% lifted Bursa Malaysia to close higher today.
This was mainly due to buying interest in finance-related stocks, namely Maybank, Public Bank, CIMB, Hong Leong, RHB, and AMMB, which together contributed 5.80 points to the composite index.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI finished at 1,845.86, up 8.82 points from Wednesday's close of 1,837.04. It opened 0.49 lower at 1,836.55.
Market breadth was negative with losers outnumbering gainers 515 to 468, while 410 counters were unchanged, 476 untraded and 31 others suspended.
Turnover slipped to 2.96 billion units worth RM2.85 billion from 3.35 billion units valued at RM2.43 billion.
The market barometer moved between 1,836.55 and 1,845.86 throughout the day.
Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/ Head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the central bank's decision to hike its lending rate was within the market expectation.
"The change in OPR at the Monetary Policy Meeting today would provide positive spillover effect on the capital market, especially the banking sector, as this could positively expand their margins and earnings," he told Bernama.
The last time BNM changed its key rate was in July 2016 when it made a 25 basis-point cut.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose nine sen to RM10.00, Tenaga added two sen to RM15.86, Public Bank jumped 24 sen to RM21.20, and CIMB was seven sen higher at RM7.02.
Among actives, PA Resources, Sumatec and Netx were flat each at 11.5 sen, 10.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively, while Sapura Energy rose two sen to 81 sen.
The FBM Emas Index gained 50.48 points to 13,336.27, the FBMT 100 Index went up by 54.38 points to 13,005.24 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 25.91 points better at 13,717.81.
The FBM 70 improved 44.02 points to 16,741.14 but the FBM Ace depreciated 21.79 points to 6,694.32.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index jumped 163.61 points to 17,556.50, the Plantation Index inched up 5.07 points to 8,061.23 and the Industrial Index added 7.64 points to 3,363.32.
The Main Market fell to 1.93 billion worth RM2.68 billion from 2.47 billion units worth RM2.70 billion.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 378.66 million valued at RM69.98 million from 688.23 million shares valued at RM168.80 million.
Warrants volume was lower at 645.12 million units valued at RM93 million versus 750.43 million units worth RM139.57 million.
Consumer products accounted for 74.50 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (575.66 million), construction (99.07 million), trade and services (884.77 billion), technology (52.15 million), infrastructure (6.76 million), SPAC (19.23 million), finance (77.80 million), hotels (1.74 million), properties, (77.70 million), plantations (36.05 million), mining (525,900), REITs (20.79 million), and closed/fund (4,000). — Bernama