Bursa Malaysia closes higher on bargainhunting in telecom counters

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the week higher on bargain-hunting in selected heavyweights mainly in telecommunications and media counters such as Axiata Group Bhd, Digi.Com Bhd and Maxis Bhd.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.75 points to 1,525.54. It moved between 1,523.14 and 1,527.50 throughout the day.

The index opened 1.59 points better at 1,525.38 from 1,523.79 at Thursday’s close.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners 474 to 450, while 471 counters were unchanged, 928 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Turnover fell to 2.67 billion shares worth RM2.01 billion from Thursday’s 2.81 billion shares worth RM2.12 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI continued to trade rangebound due to the absence of fresh catalysts.

“The benchmark index closed a tad higher, lifted mainly by banks and telecommunication heavyweights.

“Key regional markets were mostly positive after Wall Street closed at a record high during the previous session,” he told Bernama.

However, he said investor sentiment in Hong Kong and China was cautious after Alibaba missed revenue and earnings expectations causing the stock to fall more than 10 per cent.

“Back home the FBM KLCI remains well supported above the 1,520 level, hence we reckon accumulation of stocks to persist on dips,” he added.

Regionally, the Japan’s Nikkei was 0.50 per cent better at 29,745.87, the South Korean Kospi rose 0.80 per cent to 2,971.02 while Shanghai’s SSE gained 1.13 per cent to 3,560.37.

Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.17 per cent to 3,231.45 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 1.07 per cent to 25,049.97.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank improved four sen to RM8.08, Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.07, IHH Healthcare rose one sen to RM6.54, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.31.

Of the actives, PDZ decreased half-a-sen to six sen, AirAsia slipped eight sen to RM1.05 and KNM dipped one sen to 17 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 14.18 points to 11,245.64, the FBMT 100 Index increased 8.07 points to 10,895.58, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 15.39 points to 12,227.75.

The FBM ACE weakened 1.82 points to 6,815.06 while the FBM 70 was 6.44 points lower at 14,783.56.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 52.59 points to 15,225.58, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.66 of-a-point to 199.79, and the Plantation Index advanced 13.56 points to 6,605.10.