KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended on a positive note yesterday after rampant last minute bargain hunting occured, particularly in telecommunications and small-capitalised stocks, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 0.16 of-a-point higher at 1,717.58 from 1,717.42 on Thursday.
The index opened 1.08 points easier at 1,716.34 and moved between 1,713.55 and 1,718.02 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers led decliners 471 to 435, with 371 counters were unchanged, 425 untraded and 23 others suspended.
Volume rose to 3.4 billion units worth RM3.19 billion against Thursday’s 3.35 billion units worth RM2.46 billion.
Among telco-related stocks, Axiata rose eight sen to RM4.73, Digi was up two sen to RM5.10, followed by Maxis which increased one sen to RM6.42.
Malacca Securities Analyst Kenneth Leong told Bernama, weakness is still evident on the local bourse, stemming from a deterioration in crude oil prices, as well as profit taking activities in selected finance heavyweights.
The FBM Emas Index rose 1.17 points to 12,135.62, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was up 9.27 points to 12,559.68, while the FBMT100 Index shed 5.8 points to 11,798.37.
The FBM Ace improved 10.42 points higher to 5,338.1, while the FBM 70 declined 32.85 points to 14,098.28.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index rose 5.71 points to 3,243.24, while the Plantation Index declined 3.47 points to 8,081.19 and the Finance Index trimmed 2.39 points to 15,400.07.
Among heavyweights, Maybank was up four sen to RM8.77, Sime Darby rose four sen to RM9.14, while TNB, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare improved two sen each to RM13.72, RM7.35 and RM5.90 respectively.
Of actives, Ekovest rose 16 sen to RM1.45, Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd surged 52 sen to RM2.28 and Benalec was up 9.5 sen to 56.5 sen.
Meanwhile, Hibiscus Petroleum shed 2.5 sen to 43 sen and Dagang Nexchange declined one sen to 39.5 sen.
Main Market turnover rose to 2.72 billion units worth RM3.08 billion from Thursday’s 2.67 billion units worth RM2.34 billion.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 386.66 million shares valued at RM75.67 million from 444.33 million shares valued at RM89.75 million.
Warrants improved to 287.71 million units worth RM30.97 million from 224.86 million units worth RM29.79 million.
Consumer products accounted for 163.8 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (542.18 million), construction (511.44 million), trade and services (708.7 million), technology (119.7 million), infrastructure (5.46 million), SPAC (987,000), finance (92.43 million),
hotels (2.15 million), properties (536.57 million), plantations (31.24 million), mining (56,300), REITs (8.55 million), and closed/fund (56,000).
For further information on stocks and prices, please visit www.bursamalaysia.com.