KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia pared most of its earlier losses to end mixed yesterday on late buying, with bargain hunting dominating the broader market throughout the day ahead of the six state elections. At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.77 points to 1,457.16 from 1,458.93 at Thursday’s close. The small-capitalisation stocks took the spotlight yesterday, which drove the FBM Small Cap index soaring 78.56 points to 15,517.9. The barometer index opened 0.46 of-a-point lower at 1,458.47 and hit a low of 1,449.67 during the early morning session. It managed to reverse the losses briefly in late trading and hit an intraday high of 1,458.97 on mild bargain hunting.
On the broader market, gainers overwhelmed decliners 502 to 383, while 428 counters were unchanged, 1,006 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Turnover improved to 2.94 billion units worth RM1.86 billion from 2.92 billion units worth RM1.83 billion on Thursday. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said demand in the local bourse was subdued ahead of the state elections with investors staying on the sidelines to await fresh leads. Friday’s trading was supported by buying in smallcapitalisation stocks rather than heavyweights.
“Investors are cautious ahead of the state elections,” he told Bernama. Voters in Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor, and Negeri Sembilan will be casting their votes today. Among heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM9.02, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.16, and Tenaga rose seven sen to RM9.80.
CIMB and CelcomDigi lost five sen each to RM5.61 and RM4.35 respectively, Petronas Chemicals trimmed one sen to RM6.85, while IHH Healthcare shed two sen to RM5.98. Among the actives, Classita slipped half-a-sen to 9.0 sen, RGB added one sen to 38 sen, UEM Sunrise bagged two sen to 54.5 sen, while Sapura Energy and KNM Group were flat at 6.0 sen and 9.0 sen respectively. – BERNAMA
