Bursa Malaysia closes higher on bargain hunting sentiment
Malaysian stocks extended gains on Friday as investors anticipated a meeting between American President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI benchmark rose 5.27 points to close at 1,613.27 after opening lower at 1,607.03. Trading volume decreased to 2.98 billion units valued at 2.43 billion ringgit compared with Thursday’s 3.44 billion units worth 2.66 billion ringgit.
Rakuten Trade equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said the scheduled diplomatic talks could help reduce concerns about trade tensions between the two economic powers. Maybank added six sen to 9.90 ringgit while Public Bank gained one sen to 4.22 ringgit. Malaysian Pacific Industries climbed 28 sen to 29.98 ringgit as the financial services index advanced 59.37 points to 18,204.63.
Market breadth remained positive with 610 advancing stocks against 445 declining issues. The broader FBM Emas Index increased 39.97 points to 12,071.0 while the energy index rose 5.58 points to 791.32. Main market volume fell to 1.56 billion units, valued at 2.15 billion ringgit, from the previous session’s 1.90 billion units, valued at 2.27 billion ringgit.
