KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher today, extending its winning streak to seven days, with the barometer index increasing by 23.7 points over the period.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the Bank of Japan held its monetary policy steady giving Asian bourses including Bursa Malaysia a slight boost late afternoon.
He said this is despite the fact that local markets are grappling with a weak Chinese economy and a pushback from US Federal Reserve officials trying to temper the US rate cut enthusiasm in the market.
"Both negatively affect local sentiment. The time of year is also a factor as investors are paring risk-taking. The focus is now turning to various holidays and New Year festivities,” he told Bernama.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 0.39 of a point to 1,465.67 versus yesterday's close of 1,465.28.
The FBM KLCI opened 1.28 points higher at 1,466.56 and moved between 1,464.55 and 1,467.61 throughout the day.
In the broader market, gainers beat losers 474 to 431, while 478 counters were unchanged, 933 untraded, and 12 others suspended.
Turnover fell to 3.72 billion units worth RM2.42 billion from 4.81 billion units worth RM3.02 billion yesterday.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank eased two sen to RM8.98, Public Bank slid one sen to RM4.34, Petronas Chemicals was 10 sen lower to RM7.09, but CIMB rose two sen to RM5.96 and Tenaga Nasional gained one sen to RM10.00.
Of the actives, Leform and Widad inched up half-a-sen each to 39 sen and 47 sen, Iskandar Waterfront City gained 5.5 sen to 67 sen, Top Glove slipped two sen to 94 sen, while Careplus was flat at 46.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 6.13 points to 10,864.56, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 6.20 points to 10,530.52, the FBM 70 Index climbed 22.47 points to 14,534.02 and the FBM ACE Index gained 21.73 points to 5,183.13, but the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged down 0.09 of-a-point to 10,984.69.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 19.81 points to 16,505.70, the Energy Index was 5.05 points stronger to 818.45, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.78 of-a-point to 171.64, while the Plantation Index dipped 27.34 points to 7,004.60.
The Main Market volume weakened to 2.20 billion units valued at RM2.11 billion against 2.81 billion units valued at RM2.60 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover contracted to 695.52 million units worth RM78.32 million from 746.97 million units worth RM95.73 million previously.
The ACE Market volume dipped to 817.79 million shares valued at RM228.89 million versus 1.25 billion shares valued at RM327.28 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 259.70 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (436.98 million); construction (194.44 million); technology (163.64 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (66.12 million); property (382.03 million); plantation (22.66 million); REITs (7.71 million), closed/fund (9,500); energy (172.55 million); healthcare (340.95 million); telecommunications and media (37.96 million); transportation and logistics (28.04 million); and utilities (88.67 million). - Bernama
