KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Bursa Malaysia ended 1.07 per cent higher today, as persistent buying of financial stocks helped support the barometer index.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 16.78 points to finish at 1,583.50 from   yesterday’s close of 1,566.72.

The index opened 4.64 points lower at 1,562.08 — the day’s low — and went as high as 1,584.67 during the day.

Overall market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 687 to 369, while 398 counters were unchanged, 482 untraded and 25 others suspended.

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Total volume surged to 11.81 billion shares worth RM4.36 billion from yesterday’s 7.78 billion shares worth RM4.93 billion.

Regionally, China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange gained 1.74 per cent to 3,403.44, Japan’s Nikkei Index eased 0.78 per cent to 22,438.65, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index improved 0.59 per cent 26,129.18, South Korea’s KOSPI shed 0.24 per cent to 2,158.88 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index grew 0.19 per cent to 2,666.42.

A dealer said Asian equities were mixed today, taking a cue from sharp losses on Wall Street as a jump in new Covid-19 cases in some parts of the world as well as oil oversupply fears renewed concerns over the economic recovery.

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Locally, she said, Bursa Malaysia opened lower but rebounded thereafter and remained in positive territory for the rest of trading session.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim told Bernama that the better FBM KLCI performance today was partly due to the rise in banking stocks while the fears of a second wave of Covid-19 helped glove counters such as Top Glove to remain in the green zone today.

He said the financial stocks continued their rally despite Bank Negara Malaysia’s announcement of the Overnight Policy Rate cut by another 25 basis points to 1.75 per cent, a record low since the floor was set in 2004.

Commenting on this, Adam said the investors likely had priced-in the rate cut as the impact was muted and banks would have adjusted their pricing and strategy accordingly.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added nine sen to RM7.91, Public Bank rose 60 sen to RM18.0 and Top Glove gained eight sen at RM20.54.

Tenaga shed four sen to RM11.56 and Hartalega fell 28 sen to RM16.42.

Of the most active, PDZ Holdings rose 11.5 sen to 20.5 sen, PDZ warrants gained 2.5 sen to 5.5 sen, Iris increased three sen to 29 sen, MQ Technology bagged 2.5 sen to nine sen and Eduspec was flat at two sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 104.12 points to 11,126.57, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 102.03 points to 10,975.45 and the FBM 70 picked up 69.35 points to 13,598.19.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 68.79 points to 12,702.87 but the FBM ACE dropped 118.26 points to 7,128.64.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.26 of a point to 140.93, the Plantation Index improved 63.46 points to 6,887.19 and the Financial Services Index soared 229.42 points to 13,455.01.

Main Market volume widened to 6.67 billion shares worth RM3.63 billion from 4.15 billion shares worth RM4.08 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover dropped to 457.55 million units valued at RM144.26 million versus 700.67 million units valued at RM235.69 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market climbed to 4.68 billion shares worth RM577.60 million from 2.93 billion shares worth RM617.06 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services accounted for 1.01 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.41 billion), construction (217.57 million), technology (349.96 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (78.03 million), property (373.75 million), plantations (56.91 million), REITs (8.05 million), closed/fund (53,200), energy (718.16 million), healthcare (75.16 million), telecommunications and media (356.20 million), transportation and logistics (1.97 billion), and utilities (51.16 million). — Bernama