KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished higher today, supported by buying interests in selected key heavyweights, mainly Petronas-linked stocks.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) settled at 1,880.49, up 1.73 points from Monday’s close of 1,878.76.
The key index, despite weak opening and cautious trading, moved to as high as 1,885.12 in the morning session.
PetGas rose 54 sen RM18.54, PetDag increased 70 sen to RM26.78 andPChem added six sen to RM8.51.
Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd Head of Research, Pong Teng Siew, said the market was cautious following Bursa Malaysia’s introduction of intra-day short selling (IDSS) yesterday as part of the exchange’s strategy to boost market liquidity.
“Apart from that, we also see profit-taking in the broader market, including the selling of small-capitalised stocks, as they are heavily involved in the IDSS, hence there are more downs than ups,” he told Bernama.
Pong said overall market sentiment was mixed as traders were concerned over the US-China trade war.
"The trade war between these blocs has worsen with China’s telecommunications equipment maker banned from using components made in the US,” he said.
There were 506 losers and 424 gainers, with 394 unchanged and 581 not traded and 27 other suspended.
Volume rose to 3.09 billion units worth RM2.79 billion from 2.68 billion units worth RM2.06 billion yesterday.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM10.62 and CIMB perked six sen to RM7.30.
Public Bank lost lost six sen to RM23.98.
Tenaga was flat at RM15.94.
The most actively-traded stock was SapNRG added half-a-sen to 77 sen with 339.15 million shares transacted, PUC inched up 1.5 sen to 27 sen while UMWOG reduced 1.5 sen to 30 sen.