KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended higher on Tuesday, outperforming most regional markets as investors continued to rotate towards commodity and plantation-related stocks, an analyst said. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.47 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 1,733.36 compared with Monday’s close of 1,725.89. The benchmark index opened 1.63 points higher at 1,727.52, and fluctuated between 1,723.60 and 1,734.53 throughout the day. On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 762 to 438, while 576 counters were unchanged, 1,075 untraded and 16 suspended. Turnover expanded to 3.74 billion units valued at RM2.91 billion from 3.45 billion units valued at RM2.74 billion on Monday.
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 22): The FBM KLCI breached the 1,700-point mark for the first time in almost two months since Nov 26 last year, driven mainly by late buying interest on selected blue chips.
The benchmark index was weighed by regionally weak sentiment since the morning session today, but gained strength in the final trading hour.
At 5pm, the KLCI closed at its intraday high of 1,702.12 points, up 9.9 points or 0.59%. During the mid-day market break, the index had slipped to as low as 1,688.19 points.
Notwithstanding the last-hour boost, market breath remained negative
with 332 gainers versus 556 losers, while 329 counters closed unchanged.
According to Bloomberg data, the top five gainers of KLCI
component stocks — by percentage — were Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PetDag),
Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Genting Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Public
Bank Bhd.
All of these stocks experienced a sudden spike in buying interest at the 11th hour.
CIMB Research analyst Nick Foo Mun Pang told theedgemarkets.com that given the weak global market sentiment recently, Malaysian investor sentiment is expected to remain cautious in the near term before the pre-Lunar New Year rally takes place.
"Most European and Asian indices were dropping today, as sentiment was dragged by the lower IMF (International Monetary Fund) forecast of global economic growth, and weaker China GDP data. Although the KLCI ended higher, market breath was negative," he said over the phone.
Foo said the next resistance levels for the KLCI would be 1,725 points and 1,735 points, while the next supporting level would be 1,690 points.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that most Southeast Asian stock markets edged lower on Tuesday, with Singapore leading the fall, as investors remained cautious after the IMF cut global growth forecasts on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
In its World Economic Outlook report released on Monday, the IMF lowered its forecasted global economic growth by 0.2 percentage points to 3.5% for 2019; the previous forecast was done in October last year.
Japan's Nikkei closed 0.47% lower today, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index declined 0.7%; the South Korean Kospi fell 0.32%.
In the local market, total trading volume stood at 3.32 billion today, worth RM2.12 billion. PetDag was the largest gainer today, while British American Tobacco (M) Bhd was the biggest loser.
Bumi Armada Bhd was the most actively traded counter, with 567.1 million shares done.
Source: The Edge
All of these stocks experienced a sudden spike in buying interest at the 11th hour.
CIMB Research analyst Nick Foo Mun Pang told theedgemarkets.com that given the weak global market sentiment recently, Malaysian investor sentiment is expected to remain cautious in the near term before the pre-Lunar New Year rally takes place.
"Most European and Asian indices were dropping today, as sentiment was dragged by the lower IMF (International Monetary Fund) forecast of global economic growth, and weaker China GDP data. Although the KLCI ended higher, market breath was negative," he said over the phone.
Foo said the next resistance levels for the KLCI would be 1,725 points and 1,735 points, while the next supporting level would be 1,690 points.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that most Southeast Asian stock markets edged lower on Tuesday, with Singapore leading the fall, as investors remained cautious after the IMF cut global growth forecasts on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
In its World Economic Outlook report released on Monday, the IMF lowered its forecasted global economic growth by 0.2 percentage points to 3.5% for 2019; the previous forecast was done in October last year.
Japan's Nikkei closed 0.47% lower today, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index declined 0.7%; the South Korean Kospi fell 0.32%.
In the local market, total trading volume stood at 3.32 billion today, worth RM2.12 billion. PetDag was the largest gainer today, while British American Tobacco (M) Bhd was the biggest loser.
Bumi Armada Bhd was the most actively traded counter, with 567.1 million shares done.
Source: The Edge
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