KUALA LUMPUR: The local bourse ended firmer at midday Monday amid mild profit-taking among selective heavyweight with traders reportedly squared some positions ahead of the long break.
Dealers expect a quiet week ahead in view of the holiday shortened trading week. Bursa Malaysia will be closed on Thursday and Friday as the country celebrated Merdeka and Hari Raya Aidiladha.
At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI rose 1.95 points to 1,771.12, after moving between 1,765.65 and 1,771.85 throughout the morning session. The index opened 2.58 points easier at 1,766.59.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 422 to 295 while 329 counters unchanged. Turnover stood at 894.16 million shares worth RM603.74mil.
“Investors could look for further signs of monetary policies in the upcoming FOMC meeting. Also, few economic events that we could focus will be the US revised second quarter GDP figures on Wednesday as well as US employment data and UK Manufacturing PMI on Friday. Hence, upside of the Dow will be capped along 22,200,” it said.
“Still, share prices on the local front are likely to trend sideways amid a shortened trading week ahead. Moreover, the weaker quarterly reporting season would also be a capping the upside on the FBM KLCI around the 1,780 level. Nevertheless, technology sector remains bullish after reporting upbeat results for most of the stocks,” the research house said.
On Bursa Malaysia, British American Tobacco
was the top gainer, up 16 sen to RM44.16 while Sarawak Oil Palms rose 15 sen to RM3.74. N2N Connect’s shares jumped 19.86%, or 14.5 sen to 87.5 sen following its strong earnings results.
Meanwhile, most index-linked stocks ended either in negative territory or unchanged. Maybank close two sen higher at RM9.58, Sime Darby gained six sen to RM9.19, IHH Healthcare rose seven sen to RM5.98, MISC gained 11 sen to RM7.36 and Genting Bhd added six sen to RM3.47.
CIMB Group fell two sen to RM6.70, Maxis Bhd eased two sen to RM5.79, Axiata Group declined one sen to RM4.89, Genting Malaysia fell 10 sen to RM5.72 and Hong Leong Bank closed six sen lower at RM15.40.
Hong leong Investment Bank said trading sentiments in the US could remain mix amid softer confidence of market participants towards President Trump’s policies.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.1% at 19,430.65, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.9% to 3,360.17 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.2%, to 27,848.16 and South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.3% at 2,369.03 points.
Celebrate Merdeka with 50% Off!
T&C applies.
