Bursa Malaysia fends of profit taking to close up

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed higher today despite an earlier mild profit taking, dealers said.

They said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) traded in negative territory throughout the morning session due to some selling activities in selected heavyweights. However, continued buying in the afternoon session helped pushed the index back into positive territory.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI ended 0.18 of a point higher at 1,233.51 after opening 1.16 points lower at 1,232.17. The FBM Emas Index rose 13.76 points to 8,296.01, the FBM Top 100 increased 7.77 points to 8,079.27, the FBM 70 gained 33.78 points to 8,146.47 and the FBM ACE Index jumped 73.81 points to 4,220.72.

The Finance Index increased 11.06 points to 10,356.66 and the Plantation Index gained 20.36 points to 5,987.58 but the Industrial Index declined 9.26 points to 2,653.27.

Gainers outpaced losers by 439 to 246 with 239 counters unchanged and 346 others untraded.
Turnover increased to 939.925 million shares worth RM1.005 billion compared with the 639.357 million shares valued at RM833.081 million yesterday.

Topping the most active list was Talam Corporation which rose two sen to 9.5 sen while Silk Holdings increased 21 sen to 44.5 sen ahead of its upliftment from the Practice Note 17 tomorrow.

KNM Group meanwhile, inched up half sen to 80.5 sen, and Metronic added one sen to 12 sen. ISS Consulting was unchanged at 13.5 sen.
The stock was in focus today after Formis Resources Bhd proposed to take control of the company.

Of the heavyweights, Sime Darby shed one sen to RM8.62 but Maybank gained three sen to RM6.74. CIMB Group gained 12 sen to RM12.16, Tenaga Nasional and IOI Corp added one sen each to RM8.23 and RM5.27 respectively.

The Main Market turnover increased to 820.767 million shares worth RM982.236 million compared with the 580.281 million shares valued at RM818.665 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume improved to 100.747 million shares valued at RM18.028 million against 38.960 million shares worth RM8.623 million previously.