KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 13): Bursa Malaysia ended the week in positive territory at its intraday high on Friday (Jan 13), taking the cue from the improved performance of regional markets and optimism surrounding China’s reopening as well as the weakening of the US dollar, a dealer said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced by 6.37 points or 0.43% to reach its intraday high of 1,495.03 from Thursday's closing of 1,488.66.
The market bellwether opened 0.61 of-a-point weaker at 1,488.05.
Market breadth was positive with gainers surpassing decliners 517 to 382, while 408 counters were unchanged, 895 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 3.40 billion units worth RM2.02 billion against Thursday's 3.57 billion units worth RM2.75 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that key regional indices ended mostly higher following the positive cue from Wall Street overnight as easing inflationary pressure in the US may cause central banks to slow down the pace of interest rate hikes.
Region-wise, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index inched up 1.04% to 21,738.66, China’s SSE Composite Index added 1.01% to 3,195.31, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.89% to 2,386.09, and Singapore's Straits Times Index improved by 0.7% to 3,290.56
However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 1.25% to 26,119.52.
“As for the local bourse, we expect the buying momentum to continue given the strong support from the local institutions," he told Bernama.
Among heavyweights, IHH Healthcare Bhd added one sen to RM5.99, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd gained nine sen to RM5.08, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) rose six sen to RM8.86, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd improved by five sen to RM8.40, and IOI Corp Bhd increased five sen to RM3.99.
As for the actives, Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd added one sen to two sen, NationGate Holdings Bhd increased six sen to RM1.06, Zen Tech International Bhd firmed 1.5 sen to four sen, Velesto Energy Bhd gained 1.5 sen to 17.5 sen, while Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) declined 1.5 sen to 56.6 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 43.04 points to 10,785.8, the FBMT 100 Index inched up 41.49 points to 10,482.57, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 31.87 points firmer at 10,976.72.
The FBM 70 Index was 39.2 points better at 13,380.67, and the FBM ACE Index garnered 26.85 points to 5,455.48.
Sector-wise, the Energy Index climbed 6.67 points to 822.94, the Technology Index inched 0.67 of-a-point up to 66.96, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 1.48 points to 185.29, while the Financial Services Index rose 83.46 points to 16,621.15, and the Plantation Index gained 0.29 of-a-point to 6,922.91.
The Main Market volume was higher at 2.09 billion shares worth RM1.53 billion compared with Thursday’s 1.80 billion shares worth RM1.76 billion.
Warrants turnover eased to 317.53 million units worth RM65.01 million from 334.13 million units worth RM81.89 million on Thursday.
The ACE Market volume decreased to 987.01 million shares worth RM415.28 million from 1.43 billion shares worth RM907.77 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 216.43 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (582.48 million), construction (56.07 million), technology (288.83 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (56.64 million), property (101.2 million), plantation (27.51 million), REITs (8.12 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (634 million), healthcare (59.96 million), telecommunications and media (25.17 million), transportation and logistics (32.41 million), and utilities (9.67 million).