KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended higher today as buying on selected blue chips continued, said a brokerage. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.85 points or 0.51 per cent to 1,756.39 from Tuesday’s close of 1,747.54. The barometer index opened 3.69 points higher at 1,751.23 before moving as low as 1,745.51 in early trade to as high as 1,757.15 during the mid-afternoon session. Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 575 to 474, while 549 counters were unchanged, 1,087 untraded and 11 suspended. Turnover expanded to 2.55 billion units valued at RM3.06 billion from yesterday’s 2.19 billion units valued at RM2.35 billion.
Bloomberg data showed that shares in Hong Leong Bank, which was among the top 10 active FBM KLCI counters, traded 0.9% or 14 sen higher to settle at RM16.02 today, despite thin trading volume of 334,100.
"While the blue chip stocks have been pretty lifeless of late, several heavyweights, like Hong Leong Bank, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd — but especially Hong Leong Bank — contributed to the slight uptick in today's stock market," Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd's head of research Pong Teng Siew told theedgemarkets.com.
"Further, we had tech counters like ViTrox Corp Bhd and Pentamaster Corp Bhd, which traded up nicely," Pong added.
About 3.22 billion shares worth about RM1.99 billion were traded today.
Gainers outperformed losers with 426 against 362, while 477 counters settled unchanged.
Among the top gainers for the day were MESB Bhd, Pentamaster and ViTrox, while top losers included Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd and Lafarge Malaysia Bhd.
Across the region, Japan's Nikkei 225 grew 0.96%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.06%, while the Korea Composite Stock Price Index was down 0.05%.
Reuters reported Asian stocks rose to a 10-year high on Friday, on expectations of brisk global growth. This was despite investors holding off chasing shares higher ahead of US economic data and next week's Chinese Communist Party congress.
"MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.23%, having gained 3.7% so far this month. Japan's Nikkei edged up 1% to another 21-year high," the report said.
Source: The Edge
Comments
Post a Comment