KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 24): Bursa Malaysia snapped its five-day losing streak in the early morning session on Wednesday (Aug 24), indicating that bargain-hunting activities are on the way after mild buying support emerged in the final hour of trading on Tuesday.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FBM KLCI had risen by 2.69 points to 1,485.26, from Tuesday’s close at 1,482.57.
The benchmark index opened 1.53 points easier at 1,484.10.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 160 to 114, while 199 counters were unchanged, 1,859 untraded, and seven others suspended.
Turnover stood at 181.58 million units worth RM74.35 million.
Rakuten Trade vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said mild buying of local equities surfaced during the afternoon session on Tuesday, with the KLCI staying above the 1,480 level.
“For today (Wednesday), we reckon that buying would continue for technology and energy-related stocks, as Brent crude surged above US$100 per barrel again on news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries may cut production.
“Therefore, we expect the index to possibly hover within the 1,480-1,500 range today,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) gained one sen to RM8.84, Public Bank Bhd advanced two sen to RM4.62 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) rose two sen as well to RM8.60, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd increased six sen to RM5.34, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was down by 21 sen to RM8.35, and IHH Healthcare Bhd reduced three sen to RM6.31.
Of the actives, Euro Holdings Bhd advanced one sen to 14 sen, and Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd was two sen better at 99.5 sen, while Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd lost 2.5 sen to 5.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 13.41 points to 10,546.37, the FBMT 100 Index gained 14.95 points to 10,292.48, the FBM 70 added 3.52 points to 12,635.39, and the FBM ACE went up 3.15 points to 4,894.95, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 0.60 of a point to 10,648.02.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 45.52 points to 16,584.12, and the Energy Index increased 18.29 points to 731.17, while the Plantation Index was 46.01 points lower at 7,105.86, and the Industrial Products and Services Index lost 1.01 points to 179.41.-BERNAMA