KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed higher today on improved sentiment with strong interest seen in plantation, property, and information and communications technology (ICT) related stocks, dealers said.
They said that sentiment was spurred by the government’s decision yesterday to remove the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity condition in 27 service sub-sectors with immediate effect.
At close, the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) rose 10.06 points or 1.04 per cent to 978.64 after opening 0.37 of a point higher at 968.95 this morning.“The government’s decision has helped to lift interest among the investors locally which we believe is a move in the right direction with a bigger pie and more share for all,” one of the dealers said.
The overall market remained positive as buying momentum continued from yesterday, helping to sustain the key index in positive territory, he said.
At close, the Finance Index climbed 84.88 points to 7,455.51, the Plantation Index advanced 25.78 points to 4,957.08 and the Industrial Index went up 10.82 points to 2,231.09.
Of the FTSE-BM series, the FBMEmas went up 79.87 points to 6,463.28, the FBM30 added 50.53 points to 6,259.29, the FBM2BRD gained 69.59 points to 4,139.24 and the FBM-MDQ surged 118.86 points to 3,549.20.
Gainers outnumbered losers by 554 to 128 while 170 counters were unchanged, 390 untraded and 35 others suspended.
Overall volume was higher with 1.366 billion shares worth RM1.276 billion changed hands compared with yesterday’s closing of 1.111 billion shares worth RM1.036 billion.
Leading the actives, KNM Group rose three sen to 56 sen, TA Enterprise-WB edged up 1.5 sen to 2.5 sen, Lion Industries advanced 11 sen to 99.5 sen, UEM Land rose six sen to RM1.01 and Lion Diversified was 3.5 sen higher at 46.5 sen.
Among the gainers, Hwa Tai Industries surged 30 sen to 62.5 sen, Kulim gained 25 sen to RM5.55, Krisassets Holdings went up 21 sen to RM2.80 and Opcom Holdings added 13.5 sen to 58.5 sen.
Of the heavyweights, Sime Darby rose five sen to RM6.45 and Maybank edged up eight sen to RM4.40 while Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM7.20.
Volume on the Main Board surged to 1.167 billion shares worth RM1.230 billion from yesterday’s 908.541 million shares valued at RM999.422 million.
Turnover on the Second Board climbed to 92.502 million shares worth RM28.111 million shares from 42.662 million shares worth RM9.789 million previously.
Volume on the Mesdaq Market, however, declined to 73.271 million shares valued at RM11.038 million from 135.281 million shares worth RM21.083 million yesterday.
Warrants rose to 26.800 million shares worth RM4.573 million from 17.716 million shares valued at RM2.864 million previously.
On a sectoral basis, consumer products accounted for 58.329 million shares traded on the Main Board, industrial products 300.002 million, construction 100.573 million, trade/services 292.947 million, technology 30.355 million,
infrastructure 28.216 million, finance 127.416 million, hotels 32.650 million, properties 172.311 million, plantations 22.269 million, mining nil, REITs 1.671 million, and closed/fund 94,500. – Bernama
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