KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia breached the 1,690 resistance level to close at nearly a four-month high, thanks to lingering trade optimism contributed by the US-China trade truce as well as crude oil output cuts by Russia and Saudi Arabia.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 7.38 points, or 0.44%, to finish at 1,691.0, the highest level since March 4, 2019, when the index ended at 1,693.99.
However, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong said quick profit-taking activities took place in lower liners, making the market breadth turn slightly negative today with 450 losers against 440 gainers.
The index opened 2.16 points higher at 1,685.78 compared to Monday’s close of 1,683.62, and moved between 1,684.06 and 1,694.55 throughout the day.
Today’s trading saw 386 counters unchanged, 562 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover fell to 2.82 billion units worth RM2.56 billion from 3.31 billion units worth RM2.18 billion on Monday.
When contacted by Bernama today, Leong said he expected the rally to continue although a new round of tariffs on the European Union’s (EU) imports was proposed by the US government early today.
“The new tariffs would not have an immediate impact on Bursa Malaysia, but the impact would probably kick in at end of the month,“ he said.
Reuters reported that the US government has proposed an additional US$4 billion (US$1=RM4.14) in tariffs on EU goods to pressure the EU to fold in a 15-year dispute over aircraft subsidies.
Among heavyweights, Tenaga rose 26 sen to RM14.22, Maybank and Dialog bagged seven sen each to RM8.98 and RM3.34, Maxis increased 10 sen to RM5.67 while Axiata perked up five sen to RM5.20.
Of actives, KNM inched up half-a-sen to 30 sen while its warrant added three sen to 13 sen.
Bumi Armada and Compugates lost half-a-sen each to 22 sen and two sen, respectively, while Ekovest was one sen lower at 87.5 sen.
BLD Plantation topped the gainers list, putting on 43 sen to RM6.78, followed by Nestle, which rose 40 sen to RM148.80, G3 Global gained 25 sen to RM1.75, while Petronas Dagangan and Sungei Bagan Rubber increased 22 sen each to RM25.60 and RM3.03, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index gained 55.60 points to 11,940.76, the FBMT 100 Index increased 56.50 points to 11,784.07 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index was 52.68 points better at 12,318.76.
The FBM 70 jumped 92.22 points to 14,877.14 but the FBM Ace fell 14.94 points to 4,522.89.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 76.40 points to 16,849.31, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.51 of-a-point to 163.01 and the Plantation Index shed 37.41 points to 6,940.87.
Main Market volume narrowed to 2.03 billion shares worth RM2.38 billion from 2.59 billion shares worth RM2.02 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover, however, advanced to 423.88 million units valued at RM77.01 million compared with 302.71 million units valued at 43.23 million.
Volume on the ACE Market shrank to 358.50 million shares worth RM103.32 million versus 416.62 million shares worth RM117.97 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 239.28 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (248.75 million), construction (201.61 million), technology (152.42 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (96.87 million), property (171.10 million), plantation (13.33 million), REITs (10.16 million), closed/fund (10,000), energy (734.86 million), healthcare (27.36 million), telecommunications and media (96.55 million), transportation and logistics (32.79 million) and utilities (12.85 million).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM179.22 per gramme, up 56 sen from RM178.66 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama
