By Anas Abu Hassan
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 (Bernama) -- The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) staged a rebound from last Friday’s losses to close higher today, underpinned by renewed buying interest in banking stocks, in line with the mostly positive regional market performance, said an analyst.
At 5 pm, the market bellwether rose 4.79 points or 0.3 per cent to 1,596.20 compared to Friday’s close of 1,591.41.
The index opened 2.69 points higher at 1,594.10 and moved between its intraday low of 1,592.57 and intraday high of 1,601.90 during the morning session, before trending more steadily in the afternoon session.
However, the broader market remained negative towards end of the trading, with decliners outpacing gainers 545 to 390, while 565 counters were unchanged, 933 untraded, and 19 suspended.
Turnover slid to 2.37 billion units valued at RM2.04 billion from 3.38 billion units valued at RM3.76 billion last Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices advanced today supported by softer-than-expected US inflation figures, which fuelled optimism for potential interest rate reductions in the coming year.
Nevertheless, despite today’s positive performance, the local benchmark index continues to face strong resistance, hindered by ongoing foreign selling and late-session selling capped the upside.
"The benchmark index is likely to consolidate at current levels temporarily, awaiting new catalysts for upward movement. A clear and sustained break above the 1,620-mark is necessary to regain a bullish trajectory," he told Bernama.
Thong also noted that trading activity is expected to slow down over the next two weeks with the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays.
"As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,590-1,610 for the week with immediate support at 1,585 and resistance at 1,620," he added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank increased 12 sen to RM10.08, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional each gained six sen to RM4.52 and RM14, respectively, while CIMB and IHH Healthcare were unchanged at RM7.95 and RM7.03 respectively.
For active stocks, Winstar Capital advanced 10 sen to 60.5 sen, Top Glove added one sen to RM1.33, YTL Corp and Velesto Energy were flat at RM2.58 and 15 sen respectively, while Aneka Jaringan lost 1.0 sen to 16 sen, and Key Alliance shed half-a-sen to half-a-sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 8.69 points to 12,213.12, the FBMT 100 Index firmed 26.11 points to 11,934.71, and the FBM Emas Index rose 26.04 points to 12,248.98.
The FBM 70 Index ticked up 4.22 points to 18,381.69 but the FBM ACE Index edged down 21.38 points to 5,247.27.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index jumped 154.94 points to 18,858.29 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.03 of-a-point to 170.29.
Meanwhile, the Plantation Index fell 9.46 points to 7,487.81 and the Energy Index slipped 0.89 of-a-point to 803.22.
The Main Market volume dropped to 1.18 billion units worth RM1.82 billion against 1.75 billion units worth RM3.56 billion last Friday.
Warrants turnover dwindled to 722.88 million units valued at RM72.14 million versus 922.88 million units valued at RM89.47 million previously.
The ACE Market volume tumbled to 464.10 million units worth RM145.75 million compared to 720.12 million units worth RM114.69 million on Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 163.89 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (226.19 million), construction (107.93 million), technology (201.24 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (60.71 million), property (120.53 million), plantation (30.43 million), REITs (10.21 million), closed/fund (33,000), energy (74.89 million), healthcare (94.17 million), telecommunications and media (12.29 million), transportation and logistics (22.96 million), utilities (58.41 million) and business trusts (64,800).
-- BERNAMA
