KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — The Bursa Malaysia bounced back today to end at a one-month high after the previous session’s sell-off, boosted by gains in heavyweights, amid the upbeat showing in regional peers despite Wall Street’s mixed performance overnight.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed at its intraday high of 1,603.05, an increase of 13.10 points or 0.8 per cent, anchored by bargain hunting in banking, telecommunications, plantation, and utility stocks.
The FBM KLCI opened 2.37 points higher at 1,592.32 compared with Monday’s close of 1,589.95.
The broader market, however, remained negative with decliners outpacing gainers 534 to 492, while 480 counters were unchanged, 812 untraded and 10 suspended.
Turnover improved to 3.15 billion units worth RM2.66 billion from 3.0 billion units worth RM1.85 billion on Monday.
UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said today’s rally in the FBM KLCI was reinforced by United States Federal Reserve (US Fed) chair Jerome Powell’s testimony, in which he signalled that the US Fed is in no rush to ease interest rates further.
“Given this development, we anticipate that most central banks across Asia, including Bank Negara Malaysia, will maintain their current interest rate policies in the near term,” he said.
With the US Fed expected to hold rates steady, Sedek foresees a continued rebound in large-cap stocks, particularly those that were oversold.
“This should provide further impetus for the FBM KLCI’s upward trajectory. However, the technology sector may face headwinds amid the ‘higher-for-longer’ interest rate environment in the US,” he said.
Sedek added that based on available data, Malaysia’s economy for 2024 will surpass the 5.1 per cent advance estimates by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. The reading will be released on Friday (February 14).
Overseas, investors will closely monitor key US inflation data, including core consumer price and production price indices, which are scheduled for release at 8.30am (US time) on Wednesday, on top of headlines about US tariff policy.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added 14 sen to RM10.60, CelcomDigi was 13 sen firmer at RM3.93, SD Guthrie bagged 18 sen to RM4.98, Public Bank rose five sen to RM4.50, and Petronas Gas climbed 44 sen to RM17.76.
Only four of the 30 index constituents were in the red. Petronas Chemicals lost 19 sen to RM4.14, Axiata fell five sen to RM2.23, 99 Speed Mart dipped four sen to RM2.26, and MR DIY slid three sen to RM1.65.
Among the active counters, TWL fell half-a-sen to 2.0 sen, MyEG improved three sen to RM1.04, RGB International put on 3.5 sen to 43.5 sen, while Harvest Miracle, Ingenieur Gudang, and CIMB were flat at 16 sen, 5.5 sen, and RM8.40 respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index leapt 68.11 points to 12,192.12, the FBMT 100 Index jumped 78.25 points to 11,895.36, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 43.94 points to 11,978.00.
The FBM 70 Index increased 43.76 points to 19,980.29 while the FBM ACE Index fell 13.48 points to 5,217.31.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 175.29 points to 19,434.40 and the Plantation Index soared 115.80 points to 7,516.54.
The Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.84 points to 164.27 and the Energy Index shed 7.10 points to 818.27.
The Main Market volume expanded to 1.79 billion units worth RM2.39 billion from 1.38 billion units worth RM1.51 billion on Monday.
However, warrants turnover decreased to 870.64 million units worth RM101.43 million against 930.27 million units worth RM116.54 million previously.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 487.90 million units valued at RM173.12 million versus 688.14 million units valued at RM222.62 million on Monday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 201.53 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (268.58 million), construction (104.65 million), technology (203.38 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (116.56 million), property (551.69 million), plantation (26.09 million), REITs (15.37 million), closed/fund (2,000), energy (121.89 million), healthcare (52.76 million), telecommunications and media (37.51 million), transportation and logistics (15.68 million), utilities (73.51 million), and business trusts (660,000).
— Bernama
