Late Buying Lifts Bursa Malaysia To Close Slightly Higher
By K. Naveen Prabu & Danni Haizal Danial Donald
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- Late buying in selected heavyweight stocks, particularly utility counters, lifted Bursa Malaysia to close marginally higher on Wednesday, in line with regional markets.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.02 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 1,613.87 from Tuesday’s close of 1,611.85.
The benchmark index opened 2.64 points higher at 1,614.49 and moved between 1,609.44 and 1,615.87 during the trading session.
The broader market was positive, with gainers outpacing losers 658 to 418, while 524 counters were unchanged, 1,267 untraded, and 104 suspended.
Turnover decreased to 3.16 billion units worth RM2.28 billion from Tuesday’s 3.37 billion units worth RM3.10 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said regional markets were mostly firmer, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, with strong semiconductor earnings reinforcing optimism over artificial intelligence (AI) demand.
He said investors remained focused on the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and upcoming earnings from major technology companies.
“On the domestic front, we maintain our cautiously optimistic view, supported by resilient economic fundamentals and relatively attractive valuations.
“We believe recent corrections offer opportunities for selective accumulation of fundamentally sound blue chip stocks, although subdued liquidity and external uncertainties may limit the recovery. For the remainder of the week, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade within the 1,600-1,630 range, with a mild upward bias,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweight stocks, YTL Power International gained 17 sen to RM5.27, while YTL Corporation added 10 sen to RM2.15. Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM9.99 and RM7.11, respectively, while Public Bank slid four sen to RM4.71.
In active trade, Zetrix AI and MAG were flat at 8.5 sen and 15.5 sen, respectively, V.S Industry rose one sen to 35.5 sen, Top Glove added half a sen to 97 sen, while GIIB Holdings eased 2.5 to 71 sen.
Nestle led the top gainers, adding RM3.70 to RM97.98, Malaysian Pacific Industries improved 84 sen to RM42.14, ViTrox rose 24 sen to RM11.06, while Sarawak Oil Palms and Fraser & Neave added 22 sen each to RM5.50 and RM19.90, respectively.
Among the top losers, United Plantations dipped 38 sen to RM29.32, Hong Leong Industries slid 28 sen to RM16.22, Ayer Holdings shed 25 sen to RM7.75, Westports slipped 20 sen to RM6.88, and Dufu Technology erased 16 sen to RM3.01.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 27.98 points to 12,067.27, the FBM Top 100 Index rose 24.75 points to 11,859.28, the FBM Mid 70 Index garnered 77.90 points to 17,448.02, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 31.41 points to 12,081.14, and the FBM ACE Index jumped 63.29 points to 5,481.92.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 2.12 points to 179.03, the Energy Index climbed 0.63 of a point to 846.37, while the Financial Services Index slipped 21.79 points to 18,579.24, and the Plantation Index lost 7.43 points to 8,646.83
The Main Market volume declined to 1.69 billion units worth RM1.99 billion from 1.99 billion units worth RM2.81 billion on Tuesday.
However, warrants turnover expanded to 1.07 billion units worth RM137.84 million against 952.13 million units worth RM113.35 million previously.
The ACE Market volume fell to 405.80 million units valued at RM160.63 million from 433.23 million units valued at RM181.44 million yesterday.
Meanwhile, consumer products and services counters accounted for 245.58 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (295.29 million), construction (127.13 million), technology (559.68 million), financial services (46.27 million), property (86.05 million), plantation (23.03 million), real estate investment trusts (10.89 million), closed-end fund (20,000), energy (87.02 million), healthcare (92.82 million), telecommunications and media (27.31 million), transportation and logistics (50.72 million), utilities (33.79 million), and business trusts (521,900).
-- BERNAMA