KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the year’s trading with a big bang as the Composite Index hit a year high of 1,796.81 points with extensive buying on heavyweights such as Sime Darby Plantation, Maybank and DiGi, supported by upward momentum of regional peers, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed at 1,796.81, up 17.71 points from yesterday’s close of 1,779.10, after opening 1.55 points higher at 1,780.65.
Over the course of the day, the key index also moved to as low as 1,776.94.
Market breadth was positive with 489 gainers against 468 losers, while 389 counters were unchanged, 494 untraded and 49 others suspended.
Total volume rose to 3.14 billion shares worth RM2.77 billion from 2.64 billion shares worth RM2.10 billion on Thursday.Sime Darby Plantation, which contributed 6.30 points towards the composite index, rose 52 sen to RM6 while Maybank and DiGi, which contributed 4.61 and 3.60 points each, jumped 24 sen and 26 sen to RM9.80 and RM5.10, respectively.
Head of Research of Etiqa Insurance & Takaful, Liu Hing Luen, said the benchmark index was supported by local and foreign funds buying towards the close of trading, with the ringgit strengthening against the US dollar.
“There were a bit of foreign inflows, coupled with some local fund buying, as well as the recovery of the ringgit, which touched the 4.045 level (at 5pm), the highest for this year (so far),” he told Bernama today.
Malaysian Association of Technical Analysts’ Professional Member, Amir Hassan, said the FBM KLCI’s performance today has been also been influenced by window-dressing, which was usual at year-end.
“Most of the last-minute buying was in blue-chips, plantation and banking counters,” he said, adding that the positive sentiment may continue until the first quarter next year, ahead of the 14th General Election, before investors deciding on any new direction.
Among other heavyweights, TNB declined 16 points to RM15.62, Public Bank slipped four sen to RM20.78 and Petronas Chemicals fell 10 sen to RM7.70. CIMB Group was flat at RM6.54.
Of the actives, Sino Hua-An earned half-a-sen to 39 sen, Diversified Gateway added one sen to 13 sen, Key Asic increased 1.5 sen to 24.5 sen and Hibiscus Petroleum advanced 2.5 sen to 89.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index surged 151.16 points to 12,942.57, FBMT 100 Index jumped 153.90 points to 12,614.20 and the FBM Ace rose 21.53 points to 6,603.55.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 147.07 points to 13,302.92 and the FBM 70 bagged 295.69 points to 16,085.54.Sector-wise, the Finance Index chalked up 145.24 points to 16,861.38, Industrial Index improved 21.28 points to 3,280.70 and the Plantation Index advanced 34.26 points to 7,903.37.