Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices displayed mixed trends as US technology stocks came under pressure as Nasdaq tumbled 2.05%.
On the home front, the local bourse continued to move higher today with buying mainly focused on plantation and banking stocks.
“We believe the short-term play for plantation stocks will continue for the time being, given that crude palm oil futures have exceeded RM4,000 per tonne,” he told Bernama.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.49% or 6.83 points to 1,413.52 from 1,406.69 at yesterday’s close.
The barometer index opened 0.79 of-a-point better at 1,407.48 and hit a low of 1,405.64 in the morning session, before moving in an upward trajectory during the late trading hours.
However, the broader market was negative as decliners beat gainers 487 to 430, while 426 counters were unchanged, 951 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover narrowed to 3.29 billion units worth RM2.01 billion from 3.64 billion units worth RM2.07 billion on Thursday.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank dropped 2 sen to RM8.78, Public Bank gained 1 sen to RM3.98, CIMB added 8 sen to RM5.30, Tenaga Nasional increased 4 sen to RM9.11, and Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM6.50.
Of the actives, Classita gave up 2.5 sen to 16.5 sen, UEM Sunrise and Bumi Armada ticked up 3.5 sen each to 48.5 sen and 55 sen, respectively, MRCB rose 4 sen to 39.5 sen, while Top Glove declined 3.5 sen to 86.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 30.51 points to 10,448.79, the FBMT 100 Index was 31.92 points higher at 10,131.36, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 25.30 points to 10,746.95.
The FBM 70 Index slid 28.36 points to 13,876.29 and the FBM ACE Index declined 51.28 points to 5,329.59.
Sector-wise, the financial services index put on 46.06 points to 15,728.50, the plantation index surged 115.08 points to 7,087.59 and the energy index inched up 1.85 points to 817.72, while the industrial products and services index eased 0.58 of-a-point to 162.86.
The Main Market volume shrank to 2.46 billion units valued at RM1.78 billion from 2.64 billion units valued at RM1.78 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover expanded to 350.74 million units worth RM48.34 million versus 327.89 million units worth RM44.77 million previously.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 476.36 million shares valued at RM180.59 million compared to 668.98 million shares valued at RM243.59 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 491.73 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (457.61 million); construction (162.91 million); technology (180.11 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (74.80 million); property (575.25 million); plantation (74.63 million); REITs (7.66 million), closed/fund (29,500); energy (208.74 million); healthcare (111.94 million); telecommunications and media (32.39 million); transportation and logistics (25.68 million); and utilities (60.60 million).