KUALA LUMPUR (June 10): After being in the red for the most part of today’s trading session, the FBM KLCI closed marginally higher on late buying of selected counters.
The benchmark index closed 0.11 point or 0.1% up at 1,575.16.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Loui Low said the lacklustre market today in terms of trading volume, when compared with yesterday, could be due to the recovery movement control order (RMCO) coming into effect.
This resulted in more people going back to work, Low told theedgemarkets.com.
“It could also be because of Top Glove [Corp Bhd]’s results that are going to be out tomorrow, and therefore investors are on the sidelines for now to wait and see how the results will be,” he added.
Shares in Top Glove, the darling of investors, rose to another record high today, closing at RM17.08, valuing the company at RM45.11 billion. Year to date, the counter has more than tripled from RM4.70.
Low said political developments in the country could also be dampening market sentiment, causing investors to be more cautious.
Among the KLCI constituents, telecommunications counters shone with Maxis Bhd rising eight sen or 1.5% to RM5.40 today, Axiata Group Bhd was up four sen or 1.1% to RM3.69, and Digi.Com Bhd rose three sen or 0.68% to RM4.43.
Elsewhere, Petronas Gas Bhd rose 26 sen or 1.47% to RM17.96.
Total volume on Bursa Malaysia was 7.6 billion shares worth RM4.71 billion. Gainers led losers by 626 to 415, while 423 counters remained unchanged.
The Bursa Malaysia Technology Index was the day’s best performing index as it closed 1.74 points or 4.4% higher at 41.3 today.
Low said this could be due to investors turning to laggards as glove counters were overbought.
Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 grew 0.15% and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.31%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.03%.
Reuters reported that Asia’s stock markets edged up to a fresh three-month high, with the US dollar again under pressure, but sentiment was largely cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) next move.