BURSA MALAYSIA: Share Prices End Firmer On Buying Of Key Heavyweights

SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the day firmer with buying interest in key heavyweights, especially in the plantation and banking sectors, dealers said. However, the gains were limited by losses in other selected counters such as Tenaga Nasional, they added.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) ended 4.34 points higher or 0.37 per cent better at 1,176.9, after opening 0.02 per cent higher at 1,172.58 in the morning. According to an analyst, the market would remain rangebound until the results season is over.
Another dealer said the local market was tracking not only the US market but also the volatile Chinese market, which has a big impact on regional bourses.
He added that the better than expected second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) result for the country also did not boost the market much, as investors have already factored in contributions from the various sectors such as construction and services.

At 5pm, the Finance Index was up 40.1 points at 9,536.09, the Plantation Index advanced 7.77 points to 5,834.3 and the Industrial Index increased 14.04 points to 2,597.76.
The FBM Emas Index gained 17.24 points to 7,937.44, the FBM Top 100 went up 20.79 points to 7,719.57 but the FBM ACE Index dropped 10.42 points to end at 4,162.15.

However, losers still led gainers 363 to 292 while 241 counters closed unchanged with 354 untraded and none suspended.

Turnover also fell to 585.087 million shares worth RM1.009 billion from the 636.267 million shares worth RM930.776 million yesterday.


Of the volume leaders, Timecom gained three sen to 41.5 sen while Winsun and Gamuda went down one sen to 8.5 sen and 10 sen respectively. MSports fell 4.5 sen to 61 sen and Time increased half a sen to 28 sen.

The top gainers included British American Tobacco which jumped 90 sen to RM45.90 while DiGi advanced 28 sen to RM22.00 and DKSH increased 21 sen to 69.5 sen. The top losers included Tomei which declined 25.5 sen to 54.5 sen, Dlady which dropped 24 sen to RM11.50 and Nestle which lost 20 sen to RM33.80.

Among the heavyweights, Sime Darby rose one sen to RM8.24 while Tenaga Nasional shed ten sen to RM8.00. Maybank and Public Bank gained four sen to RM6.51 and RM9.93 respectively while Bumiputera-Commerce and PPB rose six sen each to RM10.42 and RM15.32. IOI Corp and Axiata inched up two sen to RM5.11 and RM3.11 each while Petgas jumped 14 sen to RM9.87.

Volume on the Main Market was lower at 518.922 million shares worth RM995.548 million compared to Wednesday's 576.092 million shares worth RM919.768 million.
The ACE market volume, however, increased to 48.268 million shares valued at RM9.067 million from 40.049 million shares valued at RM6.879 million previously.
Warrants dipped to 14.643 million units worth RM2.635 million from 18.054 million units worth RM3.191 million yesterday. Consumer products accounted for 60.274 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 69.588 million, construction 38.018 million, trade/services 176.521 million, technology 17.1 million, infrastructure 40.919 million, finance 59.675 million, hotels 1.253 million, properties 41.434 million, plantations 12.885 million, mining 21,600, REITs 1.217 million, and closed/fund 11,000.