At closing, Kuala Lumpur exchange’s benchmark composite index surged 9.54 points to settle at 1,637.68 points, from last Friday’s close of 1,628.14 points.
Throughout the trading day, the key index fluctuated within the range from 1,624.92 points to 1,638.56 points, which reflected a gap of 13.64 points. Earlier, during the half-day session that concluded at midday, the key index moved within a range of 8.62 points, from the same intraday low of 1,624.92 points to 1,633.54 points.
This morning, the benchmark KLCI opened two points lower at 1,626.14 points. As at 9:05am, the key index moved up slightly to reach 1,626.49 points, giving up just 1.65 points. Towards late morning, the index started to rally past the 1630-point support level, reaching 1630.57 points as at 11:03am, advancing 2.43 points. The benchmark index continued to surge towards midday, finishing at 1,632.66 points at the conclusion of the half-day session.
Sector-wise, all the exchange-maintained indices ended in the green zone except for the Technology Index which decreased marginally by 0.15% to 65.08 points.
The Construction Index recorded the biggest daily surge of 1.74% to settle at 311.26 points, followed by the Property Index which added 1.63% to close at 1,128.03 points, the Utilities Index which climbed 1.30%, closing at 1,821.18 points, and lastly, the Transportation & Logistics Index which increased 1.05%, ending the day at 1,060.11 points.
All other sectoral indices fluctuated within the range of 0.21% (Plantation) and 0.90% (Health Care).
Main board-listed industrial firm Pestech International Bhd was the most active counter at closing, registering a trading volume of 54,441,100 shares/units, gaining two sen, or 10.53%, to close at RM0.21. Industrial listing Southern Cable Group Bhd advanced six sen, or 5.13%, to settle at RM1.23. Samaiden Group Bhd, also an industrial listing, climbed five sen, or 4.00%, to end the day at RM1.30.
Notably, Sime Darby Property Bhd was also actively traded today, advancing nine sen, or 5.59%, to close at RM1.70 on a volume of 31,440,900 shares/units.
Main board’s property listing UEM Sunrise Bhd added four sen, or 3.92%, to RM1.06. Other property firms KSL Holdings Bhd and S P Setia Bhd rallied nearly 3.00% today. KSL added five sen, or 2.96%, to close at RM1.74 whereas S P Setia Bhd rose four sen, or 2.86%, closing at RM1.44.
Construction firms also rallied in accordance with the surge in the sectoral index. Gamuda Bhd added nine sen, or 1.92%, to close at RM4.78 on a volume of 20,837,700 shares/units. IJM Corporation Bhd rallied nine sen, or 2.99%, to end the day at RM3.10.
Ranhill Utilities Bhd surged seven sen, or 4.76% to close at RM1.54, while energy listing Keyfield International Bhd gained six sen, or 2.75%, ending the day at RM2.24.
Transportation & Logistics listing Hextar Technologies Solutions Bhd added seven sen, or 6.19%, to settle at RM1.20.
Glove manufacturer Supermax Corporation Bhd climbed six sen, or 4.69%, to settle at RM1.34 on a turnover of 29,526,300 shares/units.
ACE market-listed fragrance distributor Vanzo Holdings Bhd was the second most traded counter which recorded a turnover of 50,331,600 shares/units, rising one sen to RM0.21. ACE market technology listing Autocount Dotcom Bhd gained five sen, or 4.50%, to RM1.16.
Foodstuff distributor Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd was the top gainer today, advancing RM2.96 intraday to settle at RM99.98, just two sen away from the RM100.00 threshold. Beer supplier Heineken Malaysia Bhd added 24 sen, closing at RM24.14. Auto and autoparts distributor MBM Resources Bhd increased 15 sen to RM6.15.
United Plantations Bhd was the top decliner today which gave up 34 sen to end the day at RM31.00, followed by semiconductor manufacturer Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd which shed 32 sen to settle at RM25.68.
On the broader market, gainers outnumbered decliners by 614 to 452, while 526 counters were unchanged, 820 untraded.
The exchange-wide trading volume fell to 2.55 billion (2,552,581,600) shares/units valued at nearly RM2.09 billion (RM2.085,296,930), from nearly 2.87 billion (2,869,860,100) shares/units valued at about RM2.08 billion (RM2,077,185,624) recorded last Friday.
