By Anas Abu Hassan
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia extended its bullish momentum for the fourth consecutive day on Friday to end the Christmas trading week on a merry note, driven by window-dressing activities and robust growth forecasts, said an analyst.
Among the index component counters, utility stocks led the gainers, bolstered by Tenaga Nasional Bhd's announcement of a change in tariffs for Peninsular Malaysia starting July next year.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) bounced 14.44 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 1,628.14, compared with yesterday’s close of 1,613.70.
The market bellwether opened 3.86 points higher at 1,617.56 and moved to an intraday low of 1,616.69 shortly after the morning session before reaching a high of 1,632.63.
The broader market was also positive, with gainers thumping decliners 617 to 420, while 540 counters remained unchanged, 845 were untraded and 40 were suspended.
Turnover improved to 2.87 billion units valued at RM2.08 billion compared to 2.47 billion units valued at RM1.87 billion yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng highlighted that the FBM KLCI has successfully broken through the 1,620 resistance level.
"The FBM KLCI is showing signs of a bullish rebound as prices move above key exponential moving averages (EMAs), supported by a bullish moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) crossover. We believe that if it can sustain at this level for a longer period, the chances of further advances (would be) higher," he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional surged 56 sen, or 3.95 per cent, to RM14.74 while Public Bank added three sen to RM4.57 and CIMB bounced 11 sen to RM8.15. IHH Healthcare gained three sen to RM7.23 while Maybank lost two sen to RM10.10.
In active stocks, TWL and SNS Network were unchanged at 2.5 sen and 67 sen, respectively, while Vanzo eased half-a-sen to 20 sen and MYEG rose 1.5 sen to 96.5 sen. JCY gained one sen to 57 sen and Cuscapi rose 2.5 sen to 23 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 102.17 points to 12,481.75, the FBM Emas Shariah Index bounced 135.60 points to 12,489.09, and the FBMT 100 Index gained 102.56 points to 12,165.17.
The FBM ACE Index increased 16.81 points to 5,350.17 and the FBM 70 Index surged 137.79 points to 18,705.67.
By sector, the Financial Services Index gained 83.64 points to 19,041.96, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.32 points to 174.67 and the Energy Index put on 2.47 points to 824.65. The Plantation Index rallied 61.90 points to 7,603.01.
The Main Market volume narrowed to 1.36 billion units worth RM1.86 billion compared to 1.41 billion units worth RM1.67 billion on Thursday.
Warrant turnover soared to 919.28 million units valued at RM85.11 million versus 407.26 million units valued at RM29.89 million previously.
The ACE Market volume shrank to 588.15 million units worth RM131.65 million against 646.78 million units worth RM160 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 179.84 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (205.73 million), construction (127.76 million), technology (268.36 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (37.21 million), property (247.91 million), plantation (25.22 million), REITs (11.63 million), closed/fund (14,100), energy (57.41 million), healthcare (89.97 million), telecommunications and media (15.79 million), transportation and logistics (44.22 million), utilities (50.73 million), and business trusts (534,700).
-- BERNAMA