KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher Wednesday, bucking the trend of its regional peers, boosted by positive investors sentiment following several announcements made by the government to address the economic slowdown in the country.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 13.36 points to 1,443.83 from Tuesday’s close of 1,430.47.
Bargain hunting in key index stocks and rebound in the oil price have supported the market, dealers said.
After opening 0.88 of-a-point higher at 1,431.35 this morning, the local index moved between 1,428.59 and 1,454.00 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 510 to 397, with 353 counters unchanged, 746 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 4.47 billion shares worth RM2.86 billion from 4.41 billion shares worth RM3.20 billion recorded yesterday.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today said that the government would form an economic action council, made up of senior ministers, the central bank governor and various experts, to tackle the economic risks and review the government's finances.
He also mentioned that the RM20 billion stimulus package announced by the previous government would be reviewed to see if it should be increased.
Meanwhile, Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali who clocked in as the Minister of Primary Industries today said the country aimed to end the dispute with India which had restricted its purchase of crude palm oil.
Commenting on this, AxiCorp chief market strategist Stephen Innes said all commodity markets are moving in tandem with crude oil including palm oil.
“For the longer term, the market would stay depressed so long as Russia and Saudi Arabia continue to be at war on production cuts.
“Taking advantage from this current situation, China is reportedly considering increasing the state oil reserves,” he told Bernama.
Brent crude oil is currently trading at US$36.71 per barrel, down by 1.37 per cent from yesterday.
Among heavyweights, the gainers were led by PetChem, which jumped 37 sen to RM4.72, MISC improved 48 sen to RM7.50, Sime Darby Plantation was up by 16 sen to RM4.61, while Dialog Group was 17 sen higher at RM3.25.
These counters contributed a combined 12.91 points to the gains in the composite index.
Of the actives, energy counters dominated the market, with Sapura Energy and Bumi Armada putting on half-a-sen each to 11.5 sen and 18 sen respectively, while Velesto Energy was 1.5 sen higher at 18.5 sen.