KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia pared earlier gains but still ended marginally higher on Wednesday, in tandem with the improving sentiment in regional peers after a rally on Wall St overnight on a solid set of US economic data.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 1.63 points, or 0.12 per cent to 1,388.37 from 1,386.74 at Tuesday’s close.
The key index opened 0.93 of-a-point firmer at 1,387.67 this morning - the lowest for the day - before rising as high as 1,394.56 during mid-session.
The broader market was also positive as gainers outpaced decliners 395 to 388, while 416 counters were unchanged, 1,123 untraded and 84 others suspended.
Turnover expanded to 2.82 billion units worth RM1.49 billion versus 2.59 billion units worth RM1.51 billion on Tuesday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices ended broadly higher following positive cues from global equities.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei jumped 2.02 per cent to 33,193.99 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.12 per cent to 19,172.05.
"Investors are positive, yet vigilant, on the outlook for the global economy,” he told Bernama.
He said investors were cautiously optimistic given the improvement in the local and regional market sentiment.
"We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,385-1,400 for the rest of the week. From a technical point of view, we spot the resistance at 1,400 and support at 1,373,” he added.
Of the heavyweight stocks, Maybank and Public Bank gained two sen each to RM8.73 and RM3.87, respectively. IHH Healthcare went up five sen to RM5.87, Tenaga Nasional slid 18 sen to RM9.01 while CIMB was flat at RM5.15.
Of the actives, Sarawak Consolidated and Classita edged up half-a-sen each to 45 sen and 9.5 sen while MyEG shed 4.5 sen to 75.5 sen. Borneo Oil
and Fitters Diversified were flat at 1.5 sen and four sen, respectively. - Bernama
