KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia, which were lower in early session, bounced back to close on a mixed note yesterday on bargain hunting, dealers said.
The key index, which opened at 1,504.26 this morning, hit an intra-day high of 1,516.52 at 3.56pm after a roller-coaster ride.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.52 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 1,511.11, with gainers outpacing losers by 433 to 386, while 274 counters were unchanged.
An analyst with a brokerage company said the pleasant suprises in earnings reports by blue-chip companies overshadowed the bearish Wall Street overnight and anxiety over the political unrest in West Asia.
“The market receives generally positive leads from bullish earnings results after two days of steep selling. The investors are wading back into the market to snap up cheap stocks,” he said.
“Earlier, there were fears that tension in West Asia would escalate and spill over to the rest of oil-producing countries and trigger further increases in oil prices,” he said.
The Finance Index fell 6.02 points to 13,700.49 with top lender, Maybank, regained some of its earlier losses to close at RM8.72, down two cents.
The Plantation Index declined 24.73 points to 7,735.37 with KLK dipped 40 sen to RM21.08 on expectation that unrest in Libya would prompt investors to unwind positions in agriculture markets and switch to ‘safe haven’ markets. The Industrial Index dipped 16.70 points to 2,817.13.
The FBM Emas Index lost 21.029 points to 10,386.99 and the FBM70 Index decreased 62.07 points to 11,099.38.
The FBM Ace Index, however, went up 40.92 points to end at 4,283.25.
Volume increased to 1.695 billion shares worth RM2.046 billion from 1.655 billion shares worth RM1.875 billion on Tuesday. Among active stocks, Tanco gained 15.5 sen to 42 sen, Karambunai added 1.5 sen to 21.5 sen and Ho Wah Genting rose six sen to 70.5 sen.
In heavyweights, Public Bank increased 16 sen to RM13.24 and Petronas Chemical, which was expected to release its third-quarter results later this week, gained four sen to RM6.25. DiGi.Com jumped 20 sen to RM26.40.
PLUS Expressways added two sen to RM4.44 after its shareholders approved the RM23 billion joint offer by UEM Group Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund to acquire its assets and liabilities.
British American Tobbaco rose 38 sen to RM46.70 after it reported a 5.7 per cent increase in fourth-quarter net income to RM182.7 million on Tuesday. The Main Market volume increased to 1.424 billion shares worth 2.004 billion from 1.359 billion shares worth RM1.832 billion on Tuesday.
Turnover on the ACE Market declined to 137.501 million units valued at RM18.458 million from 158.014 million units valued at RM176.321 million on Tuesday.
Warrants dropped to 119.311 million shares worth RM21.768 million from 122.568 million units worth RM23.570 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 50.143 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 294.153 million, construction 62.804 million, trade and services 550.238 million, technology 21.957 million, infrastructure 11.757 million, finance 56.204 million, hotels 2.356 million, properties 303.132 million, plantations 67.433 million, mining 73,600, REITs 4.041 million and closed/fund 144,400. — Bernama