Malaysian stock exchange’s benchmark index at closing extended the positive momentum from midday to surge 4.79 points, though still closing below the 1,600-point threshold, at 1,596.20 points, from last Friday’s close of 1,591.41 points.
Throughout the trading day, the key index moved between 1,592.57 points and 1,601.90 points, which reflected a gap of 9.33 points. The high and low range was earlier established during the first half-day session, which also fluctuated within the 9.33-point range.
This morning, the benchmark index opened 2.69 points higher. During the half-day session, the index at one point traded up to the high of 1,601.90 points, up 10.49 points. But the key index lost some of the upward momentum and ended the midday session at 1,597.50 points, adding just 6.09 points.
Aluminium extruder and aluminium product manufacturer Winstar Capital Bhd, which listed on the ACE market on Dec 19, was the most actively traded counter at closing. Winstar gained ten sen to settle at RM0.605, recording a volume of 62,456,400 shares/units. Earlier, at midday, Winstar was also actively traded, gaining four sen to reach RM0.545 on a volume of 24,567,000 shares/units. Since listing, Winstar has accumulated an increase of of 25.5 sen or 72.9% over its listing price at RM0.35.
Sector-wise, the Construction Index dropped 1.38% to settle at 301.05 points, followed by the REIT Index which decreased 0.58% to 859.66 points, and the Health Care Index which gave up 0.43%, ending the day at 2,327.43 points.
Meanwhile, the Financial Services Index led sectoral indices by recording the biggest intraday gain of 0.83%, closing at 18,858.29 points, trailed by the Technology Index which added 0.82% to close at 64.02 points.
Other exchange-maintained sectoral indices moved within 0.25%.
Major gainers today included Hong Leong Bank Bhd and SAM Engineering & Equipment (Malaysia) Bhd. Hong Leong Bank advanced 34 sen to settle at RM20.34 on a turnover of 838,400 shares/units, while SAM Engineering added 30 sen, or 7.19%, to close at RM4.47 on a volume of 1,478,600 shares/units.
Decliners for the day included United Plantations Bhd and construction counter Gamuda Bhd. United Plantations was also the top decliner which shed RM1.60 intraday, or 5.59%, to settle at RM30.22 on a volume of 1,053,100 shares/units. Gamuda slid 17 sen, 3.83%, to settle at RM4.61, offering plenty of market liquidity through the trading of 23,397,900 shares/units.
Notably, United Plantations already slipped RM1.32 intraday, or almost 4.00%, to close at RM31.82 last Friday. Inclusive of today’s decline, the plantation counter has given up nearly RM3.00 (specifically RM2.92), or about 9.00% (specifically 8.81%), of its share price in just two days.
On the broader market, decliners outnumbered gainers by 545 to 390, while 565 counters were unchanged.
The exchange-wide daily trading volume fell to over 2.37 billion (2,372,681,400) shares/units valued at nearly RM2.04 billion (RM2,039,485,704) from nearly 3.34 billion (3,398,003,400) shares/units valued at more than RM3.77 billion (RM3,766,854,546).
