Bursa Malaysia ends at almost 3-month high

Persistent buying support in selected heavyweights, led by Petronas Gas, pushed Bursa Malaysia to end at almost three-month high today, in tandem with the better performance on regional bourses, dealers said.

At the close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 7.12 points better to end at an intra-day high of 1,789.86 after going down to as low of 1,781.54.

It opened 0.45 of-a-point weaker at 1,782.29 from Monday's close of 1,782.74.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers by 489 to 395 with 383 counters unchanged, 566 untraded and 27 others suspended.

Volume advanced to 3.66 billion units worth RM2.26 billion from 2.73 billion units valued at RM2.16 billion on Friday.

Petronas Gas and IHH Healthcare were the top two gainers among the heavyweight counters today, rising 64 sen and 14 sen each to end at RM18.74 and RM6, respectively.

The counters contributed a total of 4.12 points towards the FBM KLCI.

Among active counters, MQ Technology rose 3.5 sen to 8.5 sen, M3 Technologies earned half-a-sen to 10.5 sen and Sino Hua-An slipped 1.5 sen to 24 sen. NETX was flat at five sen.

For heavyweights, Maybank gained eight sen to RM9.70, Public Bank improved two sen to RM20.62, TNB was flat at RM14.58 while Sime Darby shed one sen to RM9.13.

On the local front, positive news further supported the bourse, including tenders won by construction companies and progress made by Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd in resolving its internal issues.

Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 1.18 per cent to 19,776.62, Hong Kong's Hang Seng eased 0.01 per cent to 27,953.30, South Korea's Kospi added 6.39 per cent to 2,365.47 while the Singapore Straits Times index added 5.65 per cent to 3,234.1.

Among active counters, MQ Technology rose 3.5 sen to 8.5 sen, M3 Technologies earned half-a-sen to 10.5 sen and Sino Hua-An slipped 1.5 sen to 24 sen. NETX was flat at five sen.

For heavyweights, Maybank gained eight sen to RM9.70, Public Bank improved two sen to RM20.62, TNB was flat at RM14.58 while Sime Darby shed one sen to RM9.13.

The FBM Emas Index was 35.56 points higher at 12,747.73, FBMT 100 Index improved 34.66 points to 12,411.83 and the FBM Ace jumped 44.66 points to 6,741.92.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 36.10 points to 12,948.03. The FBM 70 declined 12.75 points to 15,274.19.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 33.28 points to 7,946.96, Industrial Index improved 29.05 points to 3,242.25 and the Finance Index surged 63.56 points to 16,842.91.

The Main Market volume decreased to 1.44 billion shares worth RM1.96 billion from 1.75 billion shares worth RM1.97 billion on Monday.

Volume on the ACE Market widened to 2.04 billion units valued at RM275.96 million versus 753.65 million units worth RM167.57 million yesterday..

Warrants fell to 176.47 million shares worth RM22.55 million from 213.82 million shares worth RM26.20 million on Monday.

Consumer products accounted for 129.66 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (395.43 million), construction (71.42 million), trade and services (544.15 million), technology (79.49 million), infrastructure (6.11 million), SPAC (7.08 million), finance (71.74 million), hotels (3.31 million), properties (81.23 million), plantations (43.94 million), mining (301,100), REITs (6.43 million), and closed/fund (51,000).

-- BERNAMA