TELCO, PLANTATION STOCKS LIFT FBM KLCI TO END HIGHER

KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 (Bernama) -- Telecommunication and plantation stocks drive Bursa Malaysia's key index to end the week slightly higher despite the overall weak market breadth, amid the mostly lower regional market indices.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.74 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 1,636.55 from Thursday’s close of 1,633.81. 

The benchmark index opened 0.25 of-a-point higher at 1,634.06 and moved between 1,632.53 and 1,638.29 throughout the day. 

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 736 to 445, with 495 counters unchanged, 782 untraded, and 16 others suspended.

SD Guthrie jumped 20 sen to RM4.50, Kuala Lumpur Kepong surged 60 sen to RM21.50, Axiata gained four sen to RM2.63, and Maxis increased three sen to RM3.63. 

Turnover fell to 4.43 million units worth RM3.27 billion from Thursday's 5.49 billion units worth RM4.22 billion. 

Bursa Malaysia's the FBM KLCI index value feed experienced service disruption after the lunch break following global IT outage involving major banks, media, airports and airlines. The FBM KLCI index value resumed at 3.21 pm. 

Meanwhile, the key regional indices finished lower with profit-taking on technology stocks weighed by a negative cue from Wall Street overnight as profit-taking were also seen on Wall Street following the recent strong rally.

"On a positive note, investors expect the US Federal Reserve to lower borrowing costs in September, bolstered by increasing confidence in achieving economic stability," said Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng. 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index sank 2.03 per cent to 17,417.68, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.36 per cent to 7,294.50, Singapore's Straits Times Index declined 0.68 per cent to 3,447.56, and Japan's Nikkei 225 eased 0.16 per cent to 40,063.79. 

Bursa Malaysia's heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals rose two sen to RM6.06, Press Metal advanced six sen to RM5.56, Maybank and TNB were flat at RM10.10 and RM14.44, respectively, while Public Bank and IHH Healthcare slid one sen each to RM4.24 and RM6.33, respectively. 

Among the active counters, Berjaya Corp perked up one sen to 40 sen, ATA IMS went up 2.5 sen to 49 sen, Hubline and Alpha IVF were flat at 10 sen and 32.5 sen, Ekovest eased one sen to 56.5 sen, MYEG declined 1.5 sen to 98.5 sen, OCR Group inched down half-a-sen to 12 sen, and Dataprep dipped 1.5 sen to 21.5 sen. 

Malaysia's cybersecurity stocks Securemetric rose 1.5 sen to 22.5 sen and LGMS climbed one sen to RM1.70. Technology company Dagang NeXchange was flat at 44.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 1.99 points to 12,676.42, the FBMT 100 Index ticked up 1.02 points to 12,246.68, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 33.63 points to 13,053.29, the FBM 70 Index lost 2.09 points to 18,976.70, and the FBM ACE Index trimmed 3.12 points to 5,999.10.   

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index fell 26.69 points to 7,101.40, the Financial Services Index rose 65.06 points to 18,000.23, the Energy Index shed 0.12 of-a-point to 972.26, and the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 3.96 points to 196.83. 

The Main Market volume dwindled to 2.35 billion units valued at RM2.84 billion from Thursday's 3.20 billion units valued at RM3.73 billion.    

Warrants turnover slid to 1.19 billion units worth RM158.20 million from 1.53 billion units worth RM199.72 million yesterday.  

The ACE Market volume expanded to 888.68 million shares valued at RM277.57 million from 760.02 million shares valued at RM288.77 million previously.    

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 299.94 million shares traded on the Main Market; industrial products and services (514.49 million); construction (349.09 million); technology (296.73 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (94.49 million); property (243.61 million); plantation (59.49 million); REITs (10.32 million); closed/fund (39,900); energy (136.78 million); healthcare (66.67 million); telecommunications and media (43.60 million); transportation and logistics (141.77 million); utilities (88.71 million); and business trusts (2.04 million).

-- BERNAMA