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PETALING JAYA: The FBM KLCI inched marginally higher yesterday, up 1.09 points or 0.08% from last Friday’s close to settle at 1,428.13 points, on what was a flattish trading day with some global markets having remained closed for the Easter holiday.
The trading range for the day was no larger than five points, recording an intraday low of 1,425.19 and a high of 1,429.65, as Malaysian Pacific Industries
Bhd led the list of 395 gainers with a price increase of RM1.06, or 3.7%, followed by Nestle (M) Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd with respective additions of RM1 and 46 sen.
Losers outnumbered gainers at 405, with PMB Technology Bhd’s Class A warrants shedding 29 sen, while Rapid Synergy Bhd and Malpac Holdings Bhd also saw their prices fall 26 sen and 24.5 sen respectively, with 396 counters remaining unchanged.
Trading volume for yesterday was 3.07 billion shares, totalling RM1.45bil.
Of note, glove counters saw buy-ins yesterday as the mood continued to improve for the industry among investors, with some players confident that the average selling prices have bottomed out and global demand-supply equilibrium would be restored soon.
Hartalega Holdings Bhd was 11 sen or 5.4% up to close at RM2.16, followed by Top Glove Bhd which saw its share price rise by eight sen or 7.5%, while Supermax Corp Bhd also registered an increase of 6.5 sen or 6.7%.
The pedestrian tone of the local index yesterday was a continuation of the mixed tune from last week, with MIDF Research reporting that foreign investors net sold during four out of the five trading days, with the exception of Thursday.
The silver lining however, was that the net buying of RM63mil on Thursday has more than offset the net outflow of the rest of the days, and it was also the second consecutive week of net foreign inflows last week, which grew to RM18.8mil from RM11.5mil of the week before.
It said in its fund flow report for the week that investment sentiment had remained healthy, buoyed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s recent visit to China, which secured the commitment of RM170.1bil of Chinese investments into several industries in Malaysia and also RM2.44bil worth of potential exports to China.
On the other hand, the research unit said the mixed trend was largely in line with global equities, who entered the second quarter of 2023 with sentiment-dampening news flows and lingering concerns of a slowdown, balanced by hopes of an earlier than expected US Federal Reserve pivot on its rate policies.
Rakuten head of equity sales Vincent Lau said the FBM KLCI was still on consolidation mode, while awaiting important economic data to emerge from the United States.
However, he is maintaining a positive view on Malaysian equities in general.
“Net foreign buying has no doubt helped to keep our market above the 1,400 level, but we believe there are still plenty of trading opportunities to be gleaned at this current level, due to the strong fundamentals of many companies on our indices and we are still trading at an attractive price to earnings ratio,” he told StarBiz.
Like MIDF Research, Lau is also of the opinion that the recent working visits of Anwar overseas were boding well in a large degree to improve business sentiment in Malaysia.
MIDF Research said year-to-date, foreigners have net sold Malaysian equities for nine out of 14 weeks, totalling RM1.86bil, while the situation is reversed with regard to institutional investors who were net buyers for 10 out of 14 weeks with a total investment of RM1.82bil.
The research house said: “Institutional investors returned as net buyers with a total of RM50.1mil for the week ended April 7, after briefly turning net sellers at with outflow of RM3.9mil the week before. They net sold RM71mil on Thursday but were net buyers for the rest of the week.”
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