Malaysia's Stock Market Ends Higher On Bargain Hunting

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rebounded to close higher Tuesday, ending a 10-day losing streak, on bargain hunting in selected heavyweights. At 5pm, the market bellwether gained 4.89 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 1,759.67 from Monday’s close of 1,754.78. The index opened 1.73 points higher at 1,756.51 and moved between 1,754.73 and 1,759.78 throughout the day. On the broader market, however, decliners edged advancers by 410 to 403, while 374 counters were unchanged, 639 untraded and 18 others suspended. Volume declined to 2.17 billion units worth RM2.07 billion from 2.23 billion units worth RM1.74 billion on Monday. "The market staged a reasonable increase after the recent downtrend, with gains in a number of blue chips and heavyweights, including Hong Leong Financial Group (HLFG) and Axiata,” said a dealer. Among the gainers, Petron Malaysia advanced 58 sen to RM11.02, Dutch Lady improved 56 sen to RM59.96, HLFG surged 30 sen to RM16.80 and Magni-Tech went up 35 sen to RM7.15. Heavyweights, Maybank gained one sen to RM9.56, Public Bank and CIMB rose two sen each to RM20.60 and RM6.36, respectively, Sime Darby was four sen higher at RM9.04, Axiata rose 3.0 sen to RM5.28, TNB fell two sen to RM14.30 and Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM7.29. The FBM Emas Index rose 27.16 points to 12,540.76, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 24.65 points to 12,199.6, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 18.74 points to 12,782.32, the FBM 70 shed 4.21 points to 15,002.53 and the FBM Ace went up 53.68 points at 6,610.84. Sector-wise, the Plantation Index climbed 37.49 points to 7,902.81, the Finance Index put on 41.66 points to 16,527.0 and the Industrial Index added 10.15 points to 3,204.11. -- BERNAMA