Malaysian Stock Market Ends Firmer

By Zairina Zainudin KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17(Bernama) -- The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) closed firmer Thursday with the key index moving in positive territory throughout the day, prompted by persistent buying momentum in index-linked counters and small capitalisation stocks, dealers said. At the close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 9.89 points to finish at 1,682.97 against Wednesday's close of 1,673.08. The market barometer moved between 1,674.36 and 1,684.24 during the session. The overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 477 to 331, while 409 counters were unchanged, 663 untraded and 25 others suspended. Total volume increased slightly to 2.40 billion shares worth RM2.04 billion from Wednesday’s 2.33 billion shares valued at RM1.88 billion. Amid the mixed performance of Asian bourses, Bursa Malaysia and some Southeast Asian equities such as Indonesia moved in an upward trajectory, taking cue from the upbeat performance on Wall Street overnight as investors were optimistic about the ongoing corporate earnings season. A dealer said other equity markets, which were in downtrend, were influenced by poor economic data from Japan and worries about global growth. Elsewhere, the Jakarta Composite Index increased 0.16 per cent to 6,423.78 and South Korea's Kospi perked up 0.05 per cent to 2,107.06. However, Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.20 per cent to 20,402.24, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.54 per cent to 26,755.63, and the Singapore Straits Times Index erased 0.45 per cent to 3,214.44. Meanwhile, JF Apex Securities head of research Lee Chung Cheng said the equity markets were also influenced by the latest development with Brexit as the United Kingdom prime minister narrowly won a no-confidence vote, thus avoiding a general election. “This somewhat eases negative sentiment in the market and remove some uncertainty in the country,” he told Bernama, adding the support and resistance levels for the FBM KLCI are now spotted at 1,625 and 1,710 respectively. Among heavywieghts, Tenaga gained two sen to RM13.60, Petronas Chemicals bagged 12 sen to RM8.40, while CIMB and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM5.65 and RM5.70. Maybank slipped one sen to RM9.41 and Public Bank eased two sen to RM24.68. Of actives, Sapura Energy was flat at 29 sen, while both Nexgram and Bumi Armada inched up half-a-sen each to 2.0 sen and 16 sen respectively. -- BERNAMA