KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia broke through the 1,620-point resistance level today as funds poured in, lifting the key index to its highest since March 2021.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) bagged 10.88 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 1,627.50 compared to Friday’s close of 1,616.62.
The benchmark index, which opened 1.66 points better at 1,618.28, moved between 1,618.28 and 1,629.81 throughout the trading session.
On the broader market, gainers outnumbered decliners 840 to 460, with 488 counters unchanged, 591 untraded and 10 others suspended.
Turnover eased to 6.98 billion units worth RM4.36 billion compared to Friday’s 7.23 billion units worth RM4.54 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices were also upbeat, buoyed by China’s strongest measures to address its property crisis and expectations of global interest rate cuts within weeks.
“Locally, we remain positive on the market outlook, driven by attractive valuations and continuous foreign inflows. Additionally, increasing daily trade volume indicates growing market interest,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s trade volume continued its strong performance and maintained an upward trajectory in April 2024, recording double-digit growth of 12.1 per cent to RM221.74 billion compared to April 2023.
Thus, he anticipates the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,620-1,640 for the week, with immediate resistance at 1,640 and support at 1,590.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank added seven sen to RM9.99, Tenaga Nasional gained 18 sen to RM12.78 and CIMB firmed up three sen to RM6.84. Petronas Chemicals gained nine sen to RM7.09 while Public Bank was flat at RM4.19.
Among the actives, Ingenieur slipped 1.5 sen to eight sen, Top Glove eased one sen to RM1.19 and MYEG shed two sen to RM1.02. Velesto Energy rose half-a-sen to 29 sen and Malaysia Building gained five sen to 94 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 90.36 points to 12,398.54, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 84.08 points to 11,990.09, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index bounced 120.19 points to 12,642.40.
The FBM ACE Index surged 68.31 points to 5,419.53 and the FBM 70 Index gained 140.46 points to 17,781.53.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 81.50 points to 17,727.11, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 2.97 points to 197.79, the Plantation Index added 13.92 points to 7,400.70 and the Energy Index rose 12.23 points to 998.18.
The Main Market volume dropped to 4.56 billion units worth RM3.86 billion from 4.58 billion units worth RM4 billion on Friday.
Warrant turnover shrank to 1.37 billion units valued at RM196.59 million from Friday’s closing of 1.76 billion units valued at RM248.02 million.
The ACE Market volume increased to 1.04 billion shares worth RM308.79 million from 887.54 million shares worth RM288.02 million.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 796.69 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.46 billion), construction (337.41 million), technology (549.16 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (178.02 million), property (479.66 million), plantation (41.34 million), REITs (26.28 million), closed/fund (116,200), energy (244.99 million), healthcare (220.61 million), telecommunications and media (72.93 million), transportation and logistics (67.29 million), utilities (76.66 million), and business trusts (1.41 million). — Bernama
