Bursa bucks regional trend to end higher, blue chips keep KLCI above 1,600

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia bucked the mostly weaker regional trend at the close today, with a stellar performance by heavyweights supporting the key index to stay above the psychologically 1,600 level.

UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors head of investment research Sedek Jantan attributed the better performance to persistent bargain-hunting in the index’s components led by utilities and healthcare services stocks.

“The rally in the healthcare sector was particularly notable, driven by its constituent stocks’ nine-month earnings, which exceeded consensus estimates,” he said.

Regionally, most Asian markets ended bearish, with Greater China closing weaker as investors reacted to President-elect Donald Trump’s latest economic policy remarks, where he threatened to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico.

China also faced the prospect of additional tariffs for insufficient action on Fentanyl, raising concerns over escalating trade tensions.

Despite these concerns, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng maintained confidence in the local market’s long-term prospects, supported by attractive valuations, robust earnings, and stability of the domestic economy.

“Therefore, we anticipate the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) to fluctuate within the 1,585-1,615 range for the week,” he noted.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI gained 5.7 points, or 0.35%, to 1,603.15, from yesterday’s close of 1,597.45.

The benchmark index opened higher, adding 3.05 points to 1,600.5 and subsequently moved between 1,596.03 and 1,607.76 throughout the session.

Market breadth remained soft as decliners outpaced advancers 584 to 412 while 528 counters remained unchanged, 938 untraded, and 26 suspended.

Turnover narrowed to 2.54 billion units valued at RM2.37 billion versus 3.01 billion units valued at RM5.4 billion yesterday.

Heavyweights IHH led the FBM KLCI’s positive momentum, gaining 21 sen to RM7.21 amid the healthcare sector’s earnings optimism, followed by Petronas Dagangan, which soared RM1.68 to RM19.10.

YTL Power climbed 14 sen to RM3.20, YTL Corp jumped 10 sen to RM1.95 and Sime Darby was 8 sen higher at RM2.32.

Among active stocks, Zen Tech and Velesto remained unchanged at 1 sen and 18.5 sen respectively, KPJ Healthcare rose 7 sen to RM2.40, 3Ren added 1.5 sen to 41 sen, Revenue Group bagged 1 sen to 15.5 sen, while MyEG dropped 1 sen to 90.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 20.42 points to 12,130.36, the FBM Emas Index fell 2.37 points to 12,170.95 and the FBMT 100 Index slid 2.28 points to 11,876.37.

The FBM 70 Index sank 167.07 points to 17,890.85 and the FBM ACE Index shed 24.2 points to 5,139.25.

Sector-wise, the plantation index climbed 30.97 points to 7,532.62, but the financial services index slipped 89.47 points to 19,199.56, the industrial products and services index lost 0.57 of-a-point to 172.32, and the energy index fell 8.35 points to 821.13.

The Main Market volume slipped to 1.22 billion units worth RM2.15 billion against yesterday’s 1.85 billion units worth RM5.16 billion.

Warrants turnover swelled to 815 million units valued at RM94.54 million from 737.63 million units valued at RM86.12 million previously.

The ACE Market volume expanded to 507.51 million units worth RM131.65 million compared with 424.15 million units worth RM150.72 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 212.07 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (192.25 million), construction (72.31 million), technology (174.61 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (86.1 million), property (161.63 million), plantation (33.54 million), REITs (12.55 million), closed/fund (72,400), energy (94.1 million), healthcare (87.94 million), telecommunications and media (21.22 million), transportation and logistics (21.61 million), utilities (49.06 million), and business trusts (83,600 million).