Shares On Malaysian Stock Market End Firmer, CI At Almost 3-Year High

By Zairina Zainudin KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 (Bernama) -- Persistent buying momentum amid positive market sentiment globally pushed the Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) to end on a firm note on Thursday, with the Composite Index (CI) finished at an intra-day high, which was also the highest in almost three years. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was in positive territory throughout the day, closing 10.66 points higher to 1,803.45 from Wednesday’s close of 1,792.79. The key index touched 1,810.11 in May 2015 before retreating to below 1,800 thereafter, dampened by the fall in global oil prices. Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice President/Head of Retail Research, Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan, said the current favourable market conditions, with the strong fundamentals, stronger ringgit against the US dollar, rally in commodity prices, helped boost the bourse. He said the CI’s attempt to break through the 1,800-psychological level indicated 2018 would be a good year for Bursa Malaysia and its regional peers. “The global economy is showing improvements with good momentum. This indirectly proved that the Asia Financial Crisis 1997/98 will not be repeated as per what was being rumoured,” he told Bernama. Nazri Khan said the strong Wall Street’s performance last night, which saw all the three main US indexes notched all-time records, provided good vibes in the global equities. Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 soared 3.26 per cent to 23,506.33, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.57 per cent to 30,736.48 and Singapore's Straits Times increased 0.72 per cent to 3,489.30. South Korea's Kospi, however, fell 0.8 per cent to 2,466.46. He said the new resistance level for CI was set at 1,830 while support level now stood at between 1,730 and 1,800. The overall market breadth in Bursa Malaysia was bullish as gainers outnumbered losers 716 to 353, while 364 counters were unchanged, 378 untraded and 30 others suspended. Total turnover decreased slightly to 5.05 billion shares worth RM3.28 billion compared with 5.11 billion shares worth RM3.68 billion yesterday. Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB gained two sen each to RM9.80 and RM6.55 respectively. Public Bank eased two sen to RM20.74. Petronas Chemicals chalked up 24 sen to RM8.19, Sime Darby surged 27 sen to RM2.68, Maxis bagged eight sen to RM6.03 and Tenaga advanced 10 sen to RM15.40. The gains in these four stocks lifted the FBM KLCI by a total of 8.78 points. Of the actives, PA Resources perked two sen to nine sen, UMW Oil & Gas and Sino Hua-An earned 3.5 sen each to 36.5 sen and 49.5 sen respectively, Sumatec inched up half-a-sen to 5.5 sen and Diversified Gateway bagged 1.5 sen to 15.5 sen. On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index surged 106.43 points to 13,036.81, FBMT 100 Index soared 98.25 points to 12,686.71, the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 172.54 points to 13,466.49, the FBM 70 jumped 204 points to 16,265.02, and the FBM Ace advanced 73.7 points to 6,903.9. Sector-wise, the Finance Index improved 44.24 points to 16,968.81, the Industrial Index rose 51.23 points to 3,360.39 while the Plantation Index secured 50.63 points to 7,994.82. -- BERNAMA