FBM KLCI beat fresh year-high for third straight day

Share prices on the Malaysia stock exchange rose to a year-record for the third consecutive day Friday, supported by investors’ bullish sentiment on the economic prospects. Dealers said strong late follow-through buying in key heavyweights and lower liners pushed the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) to yet another year high.

The benchmark FBM KLCI rose 9.91 points or 0.79%, closing at the day’s highest range of 1,256.77 points, erasing the year-high closing of 1,246.86 registered Thursday. The index opened 1.63 points higher at 1,248.49 points and moved to a low of 1,247.18 points during the day.

Trading band was 9.59 points. Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 481 to 239. Volume however shrank to 1,147 million shares valued at RM1,220 million from 1,366 million worth RM1,472 million Thursday.

Of the 30 components of KLCI, 20 closed in the positive territory, five ended lower while the remaining five settled unchanged. Volume for the component stock was 81 million shares worth RM468 million.

Market researchers said that despite yesterday's strong opening but weak closing, the FBM KLCI's near-term technical outlook remained firmly bullish."The market could run up smoothly from the current level with an immediate minor resistance seen at the 1,285 point-level. "On the downside, an immediate support lies at the 1231.5-point level, followed by the 1216.5-point level," it said in a research note.

At Friday's close, the FBM Emas Index rose 65.79 points to 8,459.86, the FBM Top 100 increased 66.34 points to 8,242.38, the FBM 70 gained 72.34 points to 8,353.34 and the FBM ACE Index advanced 47.46 points to 4,311.18. The Finance Index rose 87.74 points to 10,613.87, the Plantation Index gained 53.18 points to 6,128.19 and the Industrial Index added 12.10 points to 2,678.85.

Topping the most active list was DBE Gurney Resources that jumped 21.5 sen to 42.5 sen after moving between 21 sen and 44 sen with 712,486 lots changing hands. Yesterday, the company announced a proposed acquisition of 51 per cent equity in rival Vista Jiwa for RM30.6 million through a share issuance which would increase the group's annual production of broiler chicken from 10 million to 24.5 million.

KNM Group stood unchanged at 84.5 sen but SKP Resources rose three sen to 17 sen and TA Enterprise increased nine sen to RM1.49.

Among heavyweights, Sime Darby rose five sen to RM8.75, Maybank added one sen to RM6.95 and CIMB Group gained 16 sen to RM12.34. Tenaga gained 19 sen to RM8.48, IOI Corp advanced seven sen to RM5.44 and Genting jumped 16 sen to RM7.48.

The Main Market turnover declined to 1.032 billion shares worth RM1.194 billion from 1.144 billion shares valued at RM1.437 billion.

The ACE Market volume also eased to 92.466 million shares valued at RM16.006 million from 184.382 million shares worth RM23.849 million.

For the week, the FBM KLCI rose 22.95 points or 1.86% from the previous Friday’s closing of 1,233.82 points.