As the nation enters the week of Budget 2025, benchmark KLCI index at one point shot up beyond the 1640 threshold, before retreating to 1,636.54 towards market closing
Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange’s benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, or FBM KLCI, rose slightly, gaining 2.99 points, or 0.18%.
The index, made up of 30 largest publicly-listed companies by market capitalisation, fluctuated within the range of 1,632.37 (low) to 1,642.56 (high).
Notably, FBM Ace market index decreased by 59.66 points, or 1.16%, to settle at 5,089.11 points.
The exchange today saw buying interest in plantation, banking, and telecommunications shares.
Plantation stocks Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) topped the gainers list, rising 38 sen to close at RM21.40, meanwhile, United Plantations occupies the third spot of the gainers list, adding 24 sen to settle at RM26.22.
Public Bank Bhd recovered from the ill-perceived acquisition of LPI Capital Bhd to retain its title as the country’s third largest company by market capitalistation of approximately RM85.2 billion. Public Bank gained 8 sen to close at RM4.39, and the stock also became the fourth most-traded, recording a daily trading volume of 34 million (34,615,200) shares.
The acquired entity, LPI Capital, ranked fourth on the gainers list, added 20 sen to its shares to close at RM12.80.
Individual telecommunications counters traded mixed and moved slightly within 5 sen, but the combined daily turnover of four major telcos, Axiata Group Bhd, CelcomDigi Bhd, Maxis Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd aggregated to 19.9 million (19,948,900) shares.
Across all the sectors, respective sector indices moved within the range of less than 1%.
The Telecommunications and Media Index was the index that showed the most gain, up 4.88 points, or 0.89% to settle at 554.96 points, followed by the Financial Services Index that rose 80.88 points, or 0.42%, to close at 19,259.16 points.
Meanwhile, Bursa’s Technology Index lost by the highest percentage of 0.82% (0.48 points) to close at 58.18 points, followed by the Property Index that trimmed 7.23 points, or 0.66%, closing at 1,082.43 points.
On the broader market, decliners outnumbered gainers by 654 to 341, with 497 counters unchanged, and 973 untraded.
The daily trading volume fell to 2.23 billion (2,244,629,200) shares valued at RM2.09 billion (RM2,091,568,670), from 2.29 billion shares valued at RM2.67 billion registered last Friday.
