KUALA LUMPUR (May 19): Bursa Malaysia closed marginally higher on Friday (May 19), as last-minute bargain-hunting activities emerged amid mixed market sentiment.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 0.5 of-a-point to end the day at an intraday high of 1,428.54, compared with 1,428.04 at Thursday's close.
The barometer index, which opened 2.59 points weaker at 1,425.45, fell to as low as 1,423.65 during the day.
Turnover increased to 2.85 billion units worth RM1.81 billion, from 2.65 billion units worth RM1.82 billion on Thursday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI reversed its losses and closed narrowly higher, as bargain-hunting activities emerged during the final minutes of the trading day.
On the domestic front, he expects that the local market’s uptrend would continue, supported by improved market sentiments, adding that valuations on Malaysian equities are still cheaper compared with regional peers, hence offering better potential upsides for foreign investors.
“However, investors will continue to remain alert with regard to the increasing market volatility and uncertainties.
“Additionally, we believe some investors will shift their attention to corporate earnings in the heat of the results season from next week onwards,” he told Bernama.
Regionally, Thong said key indices ended mostly higher following the positive cue from Wall Street overnight, amid growing optimism that the United States (US) policymakers were close to reaching a deal to raise the US debt ceiling and avoid a default.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) picked up two sen to RM8.78, Public Bank Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd added one sen each to RM3.98 and RM5.02 respectively, and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) earned three sen to RM9.82, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) shed 1.5 sen to RM6.86.
Main Market debutant DXN Holdings Bhd was the most actively traded stock, slipping by 3.5 sen to 66.5 sen, from its initial public offering price of 70 sen.
As for the other active counters, Metronic was flat at 1.5 sen, YTL Corp Bhd rose 3.5 sen to 77.5 sen, Bahvest Resources Bhd added two sen to 14 sen, and Top Glove Corp Bhd bagged three sen to RM1.20.
Meanwhile, the short selling of Berjaya Food Bhd (BFood)’s shares has been suspended for the rest of the day, after its last done price dropped by more than 15 sen or 15% from the reference price.
In a filing on Friday, Bursa Malaysia Securities said the short selling of the shares under the proprietary day trading (PDT) and intraday short selling (IDSS) would only be reactivated next Monday (May 22) at 8.30am.
BFood was last traded at 65 sen, down 17.5 sen or 21.21%, with 85.1 million shares traded.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 7.02 points to 10,474.75, the FBMT 100 Index slid 4.52 points to 10,170.36, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 23.99 points to 10,829.51, and the FBM 70 Index went down 39.78 points to 13,645.75.
However, the FBM ACE Index rose 13.78 points to 5,002.9.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 1.01 points to 164.99, the Plantation Index lost 32.45 points to 7,026.55, and the Energy Index eased 5.51 points to 839.53.
The Financial Services Index, however, increased 37.29 points to 15,606.23.
The Main Market volume expanded to 1.83 billion units valued at RM1.6 billion, from 1.74 billion units valued at RM1.61 billion on Thursday.
Warrants turnover decreased to 368.4 million units worth RM50.59 million on Friday, against 382.56 million units worth RM55.23 million the day before.
The ACE Market volume improved to 641.33 million shares valued at RM152.51 million, versus 526.20 million shares valued at RM152.09 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 545.11 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (392.4 million); construction (92.09 million); technology (116.25 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (39.29 million); property (186.6 million); plantation (27.47 million); REITs (7.25 million), closed/fund (14,000); energy (107.89 million); healthcare (164.97 million); telecommunications and media (28.99 million); transportation and logistics (18.27 million); and utilities (108.14 million).
Source: The Edge
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