KL shares end on slightly firmer note

KUALA LUMPUR: The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended on slightly firmer note today, supported by buying interest in blue-chips, mostly oil- and gas-related.

At 5pm, the key index gained 4.79 points to close at 1,838.56, after moving between 1,843.55 and 1,830.48 throughout the day.

Among oil and gas (O&G) stocks, Petronas Gas rose 74 sen to RM22.56, Petronas Chemicals added 12 sen to RM5.78 and SapuraKencana inched up two sen to RM3.26.

A dealer said the O&G counters were in the limelight after the government planned to abolish the fuel subsidies beginning December 1.

"The government's decision has boosted the market sentiment for the local stocks, especially among the oil and gas-related companies," he said.

The dealer added that the market was also lifted by China's unexpected move to cut its interest rate that sparked optimism over the outlook for the world's second largest economy.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index gained 14.650 points to 12,662.69, FBMT100 Index added 16.47 points to 12,338.56 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index increased 41.7 points for 13,258.32.

The FBM 70 fell 42.62 points to 13,675.65 and FBM Ace trimmed 75.26 points to 6,533.91.

On sectoral basis, the Finance Index improved 25.46 points to 16,311.95, Industrial Index expanded 31.71 points to 3,334.34 and the Plantation Index garnered 25.9 points to 8,358.48.

Market breadth was negative losers outpacing gainers by 476 to 308 with 305 counters unchanged, 613 untraded and 13 suspended.

Total volume fell to 2.09 billion units worth RM2.46 billion from 2.24 billion units worth RM1.91 billion on Monday.

Of the heavyweights, DiGi rose 20 sen to RM6.39, Maybank added seven sen to RM9.59, BAT surged RM1.86 to RM69.66 and Public Bank improved 14 sen to RM18.44.

Among actives, Nova rose 1.5 sen to 19 sen, while both Privasia and Nexgram were flat at 19 sen and 8.5 sen, respectively.

Main Market volume improved to 1.53 billion units worth RM2.32 billion from 1.52 billion units worth RM1.74 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE Market decreased to 523.20 million shares valued at RM140.22 from 675.32 million shares valued at RM165.86 million.

Warrants fell to 36.79 million units worth RM3.61 million from 38.75 million units worth RM4.17 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 50.99 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (329.76 million), construction (132.94 million), trade and services (627.33 million), technology (56.63 million), infrastructure (51.80 million), SPAC (129.50 million), finance (49.90 million), hotels (899.50), properties (66.10 million), plantations (22.20 million), mining (101,000), REITs (11.69 million) and closed/fund (39,000).