Blue chips lead the way as FBM KLCI rises 11.64 points

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) breached the 1120-point level in active trading but mild profit-taking saw the index closed at 1,108.88 points for an impressive 11.64 point or 1.06% gain. Gainers were ahead of losers 398 to 304 with 229 counters unchanged. Some 1.67 billion shares were traded, valued at RM2.14bil.

Gains on Bursa Malaysia were led by blue chips PPB Group Bhd, Amtel Holdings Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd (MPI) and Puncak Niaga Bhd

PPB’s share price jumped 50 sen to RM12.50 on volume of 2.7 million shares. Amtel rose 28 sen to 78 sen while MPI closed 20 sen higher at RM5.35. Puncak advanced 16 sen to RM3.12. Sime Darby Bhd, the country’s biggest planter gained 10 sen to RM7.45.

Analysts expected retail investors to continue to focus on laggards should the benchmark index be sustained above 1,100 points. Going forward, analysts expect trading volume would continue to improve.

However, some analysts cautioned that the equity market could remain volatile due to expectations of weak domestic economic data and the upcoming corporate results season. The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research has downgraded Msia’s GDP to -4.2 from -2.2 earlier on fragile business and consumer confidence.

Elsewhere in the region, the Singapore Straits Times Index closed 9.25 points higher at 2,398.67 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 103.21 to 18,361.87 points.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen Index fell 4.81 and 1.47 points to 3,183.74 and 1,076.38 respectively. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended 74.91 points higher at 9,344.16.