Bursa Malaysia Stages Sharp Rebound Amid Strong Regional Performance

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia staged a sharp rebound at the close on Friday from yesterday’s loss, with the benchmark index bouncing 1.53 per cent amid a strong performance in regional markets.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 25.25 points to 1,678.80 from Thursday's close of 1,653.55. The index opened 4.93 points higher at 1,658.48 and fluctuated between 1,651.10 and 1,679.85 throughout the session.

The broader market was firm, with gainers outnumbering decliners 771 to 421, with 437 counters unchanged, 861 untraded and 80 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 3.95 billion units valued at RM6.22 billion from 3.67 billion units valued at RM3.96 billion on Thursday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said key indices across the region gained ahead of the release of the US personal consumption expenditures data later tonight, which will indicate if the US Federal Reserve (Fed) might start cutting interest rates next month. “Consequently, major Asian currencies are strengthening against the US dollar,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, Singapore's Straits Times index gained 1.13 per cent to 3,442.93, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 1.14 per cent to 17,989.07 and China’s SSE Composite Index added 0.68 per cent to 2,842.21. Japan’s Nikkei strengthened 0.74 per cent to 38,647.75 and  South Korea’s Kospi added 0.45 per cent to 2,674.31.

UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan noted that the FBM KLCI ended the trading week positively, closely tracking its in-house projections of a trading range between 1,640 and 1,670 points.

“Closing at 1,678 points today, the index successfully broke through the key resistance level of 1,660, underscoring a robust upward momentum. This rally is underpinned by a favourable economic outlook, resilient corporate earnings, a strengthening ringgit, and rising foreign investment in Malaysian equities,” he told Bernama.

Mohd Sedek said the rally today was led by utility stocks, driven by Tenaga’s strong quarterly results and a decline in global coal prices, which will ease power generation costs. 

Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank jumped 10 sen to RM10.78, Public Bank climbed 12 sen to RM4.82, CIMB firmed 20 sen to RM8.20, Tenaga jumped 70 sen to RM14.64, while IHH fell two sen to RM6.27.

As for the active counters, Sunway soared 11 sen to RM4.10, Barakah inched up half-a-sen to 7.5 sen, Cape EMS ticked up two sen to 36.5 sen, YTL Power surged 22 sen to RM3.88 and Velesto was flat at 21 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 184.06 points to 12,484.26, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 181.75 points to 12,187.62 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 162.70 points to 12,286.67.

The FBM 70 Index widened by 254.05 points to 17,443.92 and the FBM ACE Index added 35.01 points to 5,116.09.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index gained 26.15 points to 7,313.19 while the Financial Services Index rose 241.93 points to 19,717.53.  The Industrial Products and Services Index put on 0.94 of-a-point to 181.40 and the Energy Index added 13.24 points to 926.70.

The Main Market volume expanded to 2.51 billion units worth RM5.98 billion from 2.03 billion units worth RM3.70 billion on Thursday.

Warrant turnover dropped to 1.04 billion units valued at RM123.82 million from 1.08 billion units valued at RM118.58 million previously.

The ACE Market volume declined to 398.42 million shares worth RM108.68 million from 543.66 million shares worth RM139.78 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 269.23 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (629.73 million), construction (215.96 million), technology (288.80 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (230.94 million), property (257.59 million), plantation (33.89 million), REITs (12.77 million), closed/fund (31,000), energy (224.43 million), healthcare (71.67 million), telecommunications and media (70.76 million), transportation and logistics (50.65 million), utilities (154.35 million) and business trusts (966,100).

-- BERNAMA