Bursa Malaysia ends broadly higher on persistent buying

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher after a long holiday weekend on persistent buying activities across the board.

The sentiment remained positive as the government was set to open up almost all economic activities starting tomorrow, further easing of restrictions as part of its soft landing strategy, a dealer said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 18.83 points to end the day at 1,575.16 from 1,556.33 at last Friday’s close.

The index opened 16.47 points higher at 1,572.80 and hovered between 1,567.97 and 1,590.83 throughout the trading session.

The overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing decliners 779 to 328, while 403 counters were unchanged, 391 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Total volume increased to 9.10 billion shares worth RM6.21 billion from 8.67 billion shares worth RM6.19 billion last Friday.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the local market was also taking a cue from the higher overnight performance of Wall Street as hopes of an economic recovery soared following the easing in Covid-19 lockdowns.

The US labour market also surprised on the upside when non-farm payrolls increased by 2.5 million in May, reversing some of the job losses in April, he said.

Mohd Afzanizam said the positive market sentiment was further brought on by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) + meeting during the weekend as members reiterated commitment to stabilise the crude oil prices and to strictly adhere to the production cut pact.

He said the local bourse was also traded steady during the whole session today as the measures announced under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) continued to provide impetus to the market.

“Penjana would benefit key sectors such as property and automotive. So it’s a combination of good data and the ‘feel good’ factor from policy responses.

“However, it remains to be seen whether the uptrend can be sustained. Technical indicators seem to suggest that market correction is quite possible given key indicators are in the overbought region.

“Current resistance is now located at 1,580 points while support level at 1,552 points,” he added.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.38% to 23,091.03, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 0.33% to 2,787.68 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index expanded 1.13% to 25,057.22.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose 12 sen to RM8.20, Public Bank added six sen to RM17.38, Petronas Chemicals advanced 19 sen to RM6.89 and IHH Healthcare gained eight sen to RM5.63.

Tenaga, however, shed six sen to RM11.90.

As for the most active stocks, AirAsia X edged up two sen to 12.5 sen, AirAsia Group climbed 18.5 sen to RM1.05, Powerwell rose 6.5 sen to 38 sen and ACO Group surged 24 sen 58.5 sen, but Eduspec eased half a sen to two sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 146.60 points higher at 11,077.38, the FBMT 100 Index lifted 142.45 points to 10,934.69, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 141.58 points for 12,448.68, the FBM 70 was up 225.41 points at 13,617.25 and the FBM ACE added 10.38 points to 5,862.91.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 2.10 points to 141.15, the Financial Services Index jumped 147.23 points to 13,873.25 and the Plantation Index picked up 41.57 points to 6,828.59.

Main Market volume rose to 5.72 billion shares worth RM5.25 billion from 5.55 billion shares worth RM4.98 billion last Friday.

Warrants turnover improved to 742.42 million units valued at RM176.19 million from 696.23 million units worth RM195.45 million.

Volume on the ACE Market increased to 2.63 billion shares worth RM777.96 million from 2.41 billion shares worth RM1.01 billion previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 1.58 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (822.93 million), construction (448.53 million), technology (351.56 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (120.85 million), property (345.96 million), plantations (144.22 million), REITs (12.85 million), closed/fund (19,600), energy (1.34 billion), healthcare (100.32 million), telecommunications and media (235.07 million), transportation and logistics (176.79 million), and utilities (48.30 million). - Bernama

source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/bursa-malaysia-ends-broadly-higher-on-persistent-buying-BE2547113