KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia recouped earlier losses to close higher today, in sync with the upbeat performance in regional bourses as market sentiment turned positive, fuelling investors' risk appetite.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.7 points to end at its intraday high of 1,428.04 compared with 1,424.34 at Wednesday's close.
The barometer index opened 0.40 of-a-point higher at 1,424.74 this morning and thereafter hit an intraday low of 1,421.92.
The FBM KLCI was mainly driven by gains in PPB Group, MR D.I.Y and IOI Corporation.
PPB surged 38 sen or 2.34 per cent to RM16.34, MR D.I.Y climbed three sen or 1.92 per cent to RM1.59 and IOI Corporation edged up four sen or 1.01 per cent to RM4.00.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 477 to 355, while 406 counters were unchanged, 1,008 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Turnover increased marginally to 2.65 billion units worth RM1.82 billion from 2.59 billion units worth RM1.63 billion on Wednesday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI recovered earlier losses and ended in the positive territory as investors started to bargain hunt for stocks during the afternoon session.
"We maintain our view that the outlook of Malaysian equities will remain stable in the medium term given their attractive valuations, stronger corporate earnings and improving economic conditions locally.
"Hence, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to move higher within the 1,425-1,435 region towards the weekend," he told Bernama.
Rakuten Trade is positive on banking given the sector’s attractive valuations and strong dividends while plantation stocks might see some headwinds due to the weakening crude palm oil futures.
From a technical point of view, the securities firm spotted the FBM KLCI's immediate resistance at 1,440 and support at 1,415.
Elsewhere, he said the key regional indices were also higher following the positive cue from Wall Street overnight.
Meanwhile, the United States (US) President Joe Biden’s administration said that a deal on raising the US debt ceiling could be reached as soon as this week.
Thong reckoned that the global sentiment will improve on progress of the US debt ceiling talks.
As for other heavyweights, Maybank picked up five sen to RM8.76, Public Bank added one sen to RM3.97, Tenaga Nasional climbed four sen to RM9.79, while Petronas Chemicals and CIMB perked up three sen each to RM7.01 and RM5.01 respectively.
Among the actives, Revenue Group declined half-a-sen to 30.5 sen , Top Glove added six sen to RM1.17, Velesto
increased half-a-sen to 25.5 sen, Jade Marvel eased two sen to 24 sen, while Widad Group was flat at 43 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 40.33 points to 10,481.77, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 38.37 points to 10,174.89, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 41.84 points to 10,853.50, and the FBM 70 Index soared 101.51 points to 13,658.53.
The FBM ACE Index lost 7.66 points to 4,989.12.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 10.58 points to 7,059.00, the Energy Index rose 10.47 points to 845.04, the Financial Services Index went up 63.33 points to 15,568.94, while the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.42 of-a-point to 166.00.
The Main Market volume expanded to 1.74 billion units valued at RM1.61 billion from 1.67 billion units valued at RM1.41 billion on Wednesday.
Warrants turnover declined to 382.56 million units worth RM55.23 million against 416.95 million units worth RM64.41 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume improved to 526.20 million shares valued at RM152.09 million versus 507.62 million shares valued at RM156.89 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 256.02 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (345.09 million); construction (34.46 million); technology (245.02 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (36.38 million); property (147.43 million); plantation (29.84 million); REITs (14.39 million), closed/fund (24,100); energy (196.39 million); healthcare (310.49 million); telecommunications and media (46.68 million); transportation and logistics (19.94 million); and utilities (60.35 million). - Bernama
