By Engku Shariful Azni Engku Ab Latif & Karina Imran
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia continued its upbeat trend to close higher on Wednesday, buoyed by improving sentiment amid optimism over easing West Asia conflict, an analyst said.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 15.51 points to 1,748.17, compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,732.66.
The benchmark index opened 3.70 points higher at 1,736.36, and fluctuated between 1,732.68 and 1,750.41 throughout the day.
The broader market was also positive with advancers outpacing decliners 690 to 487, while 587 counters were unchanged, 968 untraded and 12 suspended.
Turnover expanded to 3.89 billion units valued at RM3.80 billion from 2.80 billion units valued at RM2.81 billion on Tuesday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said sentiment has turned more positive, supported by easing geopolitical tensions, lower crude oil prices and improving global risk appetite.
He said broad-based buying in heavyweight stocks and resilient domestic economic conditions should continue to underpin the local market.
“While intermittent profit-taking may emerge following the recent rally, the overall market undertone remains constructive.
“As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade within the 1,740–1,760 range for the remainder of the week,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained four sen to RM10.82, Tenaga Nasional advanced 16 sen to RM14.66, while Public Bank eased one sen to RM5.27, CIMB Group was two sen lower at RM8.01, and IHH Healthcare slid 11 sen to RM8.32.
Among active stocks, Zetrix AI was 4.5 sen lower at 69 sen, EG Industries slipped 10 sen to RM1.70, while Inari Amertron jumped 20 sen to RM2.41, Genetec Technology rose 5.5 sen to 38 sen, and NationGate Holdings lost seven sen to RM1.36.
Leading gainers included Nestle, which increased 70 sen to RM102.50, Pentamaster Corporation garnered 41 sen to RM5.70, United Plantations advanced 36 sen to RM34.40, Vitrox Corporation went up 35 sen to RM9.10, and YTL Power International climbed 29 sen to RM4.40.
On the losers’ list, Fraser & Neave dipped 90 sen to RM26.92, Hong Leong Financial declined 18 sen to RM18.48, Petronas Dagangan slid 16 sen to RM19.54, while QL Resources and Petronas Chemicals slid 13 sen each to RM4.0 and RM4.52, respectively.
Among the broader indices, the FBM Mid 70 Index climbed 66.46 points to 18,277.96, the FBM Emas Shariah Index leapt 110.12 points to 12,732.63, and the FBM ACE Index advanced 21.82 points to 5,039.26.
The FBM Emas Index grew 93.19 points to 12,902.51 and the FBM Top 100 Index rose 96.23 points to 12,736.94.
By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.56 points to 190.24, the Financial Services Index put on 49.98 points to 20,569.17, the Plantation Index surged 133.39 points to 9,510.70, and the Energy Index inched up by 0.30 of a point to 764.23.
The Main Market volume expanded to 1.92 billion units valued at RM3.40 billion compared to 1.46 billion units valued at RM2.53 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover increased to 1.29 billion units worth RM1.74 billion versus 859.77 million units worth RM112.63 million previously.
The ACE Market volume jumped to 658.35 million units valued at RM224.84 million from 469.03 million units valued at RM168.07 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 164.55 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (415.62 million), construction (93.97 million), technology (607.92 million), financial services (88.77 million), property (169.86 million), plantation (48.86 million), real estate investment trusts (19.54 million), closed-end fund (43,000), energy (87.27 million), healthcare (92.29 million), telecommunications and media (42.03 million), transportation and logistics (48.11 million), utilities (46.85 million), and business trusts (405,700).
-- BERNAMA