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UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors’ head of wealth research and advisory, and designated portfolio manager Sedek Jantan said the uptrend was led by the energy and plantation sectors.
“Positive investor sentiment in Malaysia’s economy, supported by foreign net inflows, has contributed to the improvement in Bursa’s fundamentals, allowing the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) to outperform its Asean peers,” he told Bernama.
Furthermore, he said the FBM KLCI’s lower volatility compared to its Asean peers makes it more attractive to investors.
Sedek noted that foreign investors have been net buyers of Malaysian equities since November last year and this trend is expected to continue this month.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices ended mostly higher, driven by the continued influx of foreign funds into the region, overshadowing the news of the delaying rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.
“On the domestic front, we see the market undertone remaining steady, thanks to the continuous inflow of foreign funds and the increasing retail participants,” he said.
Therefore, he said the FBM KLCI would trend higher within the range of 1,530-1,550 for the week.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI gained 5.06 points to end at 1,538.61 compared to Friday’s close of 1,533.55 as most heavyweights rebounded from earlier losses.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.2 of-a-point lower at 1,533.35, hit its intraday high of 1,539.25 and low of 1,530.58 during the session.
Losers, comprising mostly lower liners, outpaced gainers 554 to 446 on the broader market, while 459 counters were unchanged, 839 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover slipped to 3.48 billion units worth RM2.07 billion from Friday’s 3.63 billion units worth RM2.36 billion.
Among the heavyweights, Petronas Dagangan surged 50 sen to RM22.80, Public Bank gained 2 sen to RM4.43, MR D.I.Y. rose 4 sen to RM1.55, and Maybank went up 3 sen to RM9.46.
Petronas Gas perked 18 sen to RM18.1 and Sime Darby increased 5 sen to RM2.51.
As for the actives, Hong Seng, TWL, and Fitters were flat at 2 sen, 3.5 sen, and 5 sen respectively. Minetech declined 2 sen to 17 sen, and Reneuco inched up 2 sen to 7.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index put on 15.39 points to 11,420.65, the FBMT 100 Index improved 14.77 points to 11,068.37, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 19.49 points to 11,477.98.
The FBM 70 Index slid 68.76 points to 15,332.05 and the FBM ACE Index dipped 39.99 points to 4,865.3.
Sector-wise, the financial services index garnered 35.11 points to 17,251.66, the plantation index added 44.51 points to 7,298.74, while the energy index was 0.98 of-a-point higher at 896.06 and the industrial products and services index trimmed 0.5 of-a-point to 175.61.
The Main Market volume narrowed to 2.27 billion units valued at RM1.83 billion from Friday’s 2.42 billion units valued at RM2.13 billion.
Warrants turnover dwindled to 707.89 million units worth RM114.17 million from 816.92 million units worth RM115.87 million.
The ACE Market volume, however, expanded to 483.31 million shares worth RM129.89 million from 398.27 million shares valued at RM116.78 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 392.78 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (662.68 million); construction (84.62 million); technology (312.16 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (98.61 million); property (286.82 million); plantation (114.03 million); REITs (17.81 million), closed/fund (2,000); energy (96.48 million); healthcare (52.32 million); telecommunications and media (36.3 million); transportation and logistics (29.3 million); and utilities (87.04 million).
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