BURSA MALAYSIA ENDS HIGHER IN LINE WITH REGIONAL MARKETS

By Zarul Effendi Razali

KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia maintained its positive momentum to end higher today, supported by persistent buying in selected heavyweights, in line with the regional market uptrend, an analyst said. 

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.24 per cent, or 3.76 points, to 1,546.50 from yesterday’s close of 1,542.74.

The market bellwether opened 2.25 points higher at 1,544.99, and moved between 1,542.74 and 1,547.74 throughout the day.

In the broader market, however, losers marginally outpaced gainers 459 to 454, while 517 counters were unchanged, 937 untraded and 10 suspended.

Turnover slipped to 2.94 billion units worth RM1.89 billion compared to 3.36 billion units worth RM2.71 recorded on Thursday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI continued to trend higher thanks to broadbased buying.

“Key regional indices trended higher ahead of the weekend tariff talks between China and the US. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will attend the meeting in Switzerland with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.

“Mutual tariff exemptions on key items such as electronics likely provided some support. Investors now turn their focus to the upcoming consumer price index (CPI) inflation data due Saturday,” he told Bernama today.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM9.89, Public Bank slipped one sen to RM4.44 while Tenaga Nasional, CIMB and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM14.30, RM6.87 and RM7.01 respectively.

For active stocks, Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen, CBH Engineering fell 6.5 sen to 24 sen, while MyEG earned half-a-sen to 90.5 sen and Tanco added 1.5 sen to 93 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 28.23 points higher at 11,520.04, the FBMT 100 Index gained 28.90 points to 11,285.93, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 42.43 points to 11,475.76.

The FBM 70 Index garnered 47.67 points to 16,313.70 and the FBM ACE Index rose 22.09 points to 4,682.95.

Across sectors, the Financial Services Index went up 0.40 of-a-point to 18,055.29, the Industrial Products and Services Index went up 1.43 point to 154.44, the Energy Index climbed seven points to 693.44, while the Plantation Index secured 45.40 points to 7,246.43.

The Main Market volume shed to 1.22 billion units valued at RM1.59 billion against yesterday’s 1.57 billion units worth RM2.40 billion.

Warrants turnover declined to 1.35 billion units worth RM209.38 million from 1.38 billion units valued at RM184.14 million previously. 

The ACE Market volume narrowed to 372.11 million units valued at RM100.66 million compared with 403.45 million units worth RM138.55 million on Thrusday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 188.79 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (213.30 million), construction (66.77 million), technology (164.64 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (46.82 million), property (195.39 million), plantation (12.24 million), REITs (19.46 million), closed/fund (2,900), energy (158.69 million), healthcare (42.27 million), telecommunications and media (40.01 million), transportation and logistics (30.53 million), utilities (37.18 million), and business trusts (81,400).

-- BERNAMA