Bursa Malaysia Rebounds As Late Buying Offsets Profit-taking

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- The FBM KLCI staged a late turnaround to close slightly higher, lifted by last-minute buying in CelcomDigi, which offset earlier losses from ex-dividend adjustments in Maxis and MISC and profit-taking in Tenaga Nasional and CIMB.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 1.22 points to 1,586.81 from yesterday’s close of 1,585.59.

The index opened 1.39 points firmer at 1,586.98 and moved between 1,581.89 and 1,587.53 throughout today’s trading session.

In the broader market, gainers beat decliners 506 to 447, while 536 counters were unchanged, with 1,104 untraded and eight suspended.

Turnover jumped to 3.01 billion units worth RM2.61 billion from 2.15 billion units worth RM1.94 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the key index staged a late recovery to close with small gains, overcoming earlier declines caused by ex-dividend adjustments in Maxis and MISC, as well as profit-taking in Tenaga Nasional and CIMB.

“Supportive buying in other index-linked stocks provided enough momentum to offset the selling pressure, leaving the benchmark slightly higher at closing,” he told Bernama.

Thong added that overall, the trend looks constructive whereby the FBM KLCI is consolidating in a healthy way, and any decisive move above 1,600 is likely to strengthen long-term sentiment.

“Notably, trading volume has returned to more normal levels after a short period of weakness, suggesting investors are starting to re-engage the market.

“This recovery in participation adds weight for further uptrend, hence, we maintain our weekly FBM KLCI target at 1,570-1,600,” he added.

Meanwhile, key regional indices finished mixed as investors are cautiously awaiting a slew of economic data from today till Thursday that could shape the interest rate outlook. 

Elsewhere, at the time of writing, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.19 per cent to 25,938.13, Singapore Strait Times Index slipped by 0.30 per cent to 4,295.44, South Korea’s Kospi added 1.26 per cent to 3,260.05 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 eased by 0.42 per cent to 43,459.29.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM10.04, Public Bank gained one sen to RM4.29, IHH Healthcare improved two sen to RM6.94 but CIMB and Tenaga Nasional lost 11 sen and 22 sen to RM7.16 and RM13.10 respectively.

Pharmaniaga is the most active counter at the close, advancing two sen to 21.5 sen, Zetrix AI and Velesto were half-a-sen easier at 85.5 sen and 21 sen respectively, while Tanco was 2.5 sen lower at 78.5 sen. 

Top gainers for the day were led by Nestle which jumped RM2.10 to RM96.10, followed by PPB, which added 30 sen to RM10.20, Bintulu Port earned 20 sen to RM5.30 and Petronas Dagangan was 18 sen better at RM22.32.

F&N and United Plantations were the top losers, dropping 34 sen to RM27.30 and 26 sen to RM22.34 respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 10.82 points to 11,772.84, the FBMT 100 Index added 10.24 points to 11,537.48, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 10.51 points to 11,746.06.

The FBM 70 Index climbed 20.91 points to 16,468.36, while the FBM ACE Index eased 48.12 points to 4,720.84.

By sector, the Financial Services Index firmed 1.26 points to 18,127.32, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.48 of a point to 165.23, the Plantation Index edged up 32.42 points to 7,668.78, while the Energy Index rose 0.07 of a point to 740.39.

The Main Market volume increased to 1.49 billion units valued at RM2.29 billion from 1.29 billion units valued at RM1.75 billion on Monday.

Warrant turnover surged to 1.20 billion units worth RM1.99 billion from 596.79 million units worth RM91.02 million previously.

The ACE Market volume climbed to 317.83 million worth RM123.19 million from 262.34 million units worth RM100.3 million.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 246.67 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (241.92 million), construction (110.69 million), technology (171.93 million), financial services (97.82 million), property (172.24 million), plantation (27.0 million), REITs (18.85 million), closed/fund (30,500), energy (119.57 million), healthcare (174.38 million), telecommunications and media (43.73 million), transportation and logistics (29.20 million), utilities (36.41 million), and business trusts (141,200).

-- BERNAMA