Rotational play lifts market

Bursa Malaysia closed higher yesterday on rotational play in selective heavyweights and lower liners despite a weak lead from Wall Street, dealers said.
 
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 2.68 points, or 0.19 per cent, to close above the 1,360 level at 1,363.6.

The benchmark index opened 3.31 points higher at 1,364.23 in the morning and was traded between 1,361.37 and 1,368.43.

Dealers said active market players lifted the local bourse with broad-based buying, supported by positive market sentiment across regional markets.

MIMB Investment Bank Bhd head of research, Chan Ken Yew, said the market would see companies that were traded way below their asset value taken private in view of strong liquidity.

"We believe such news flow should keep the interest of the local market warm," he said.

Chan expects the market to see mid- and small-capitalised stocks to be the theme play in the coming months as the upside of FBM KLCI seemed to be limited in contrast to smaller-cap stocks.

The immediate upside resistance was expected to be pegged at 1,380 and support could be found at 1,350, he said.

The Plantation Index added 19.15 points to 6,418.53 and the Industrial Index gained 1.37 points to 2,669.04. The Finance Index, however, fell 1.22 points to 12,330.4. The FBM Emas Index rose 29.101 points to 9,241.87, FBM70 Index increased 39.03 points to 9,223.04 and the FBM ACE Index went up 27.16 points to 3,821.93.

Gainers led losers 494 to 280 while 243 counters were unchanged, 348 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Volume rose to 963.782 million shares worth RM1.283 billion from 918.318 million shares worth RM1.422 billion last Friday.

Topping the most active stocks were Talam, which increased half sen to 12 sen, Jadi Imaging added two sen to 29.5 sen and Sinotop gained 1.5 sen to 25.5 sen. KNM and Eastern & Oriental rose three sen each to 53 sen and RM1.21 respectively.

Among top gainers, Tanjong gained RM3.56 to RM21.14 following its privatization news, Batu Kawan increased 38 sen to RM11.50 and Unisem-Warrant rose 31.5 sen to 32.5 sen.

Petronas Gas went up 30 sen to RM10.30 and Pacific & Orient gained 22.5 sen to RM1.15.

In heavyweights, Maybank was unchanged at RM7.74, CIMB Group added six sen to RM7.46, Maxis gained one sen to RM5.30 and Sime Darby lost seven sen RM7.73. - Bernama