FBM KLCI continues flirting with 1,600-point level

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips finished higher for the third straight session on Monday, aided by gains in Public Bank Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and YTL Power International Bhd.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI advanced 7.80 points, or 0.49% to 1,597.39, its highest since April 2022. It hit an intraday high of 1,598.26.

There were 657 gainers against 447 decliners while 499 counters were unchanged. Trading volume was brisk at 4.5 billion shares valued at RM3.12bil.

On the 30-stock FBM KLCI, there were 15 gainers to 12 decliners while three traded flat.

Key winners on the FBM KLCI include Public Bank, which rose eight sen to RM4.20, CIMB gained 10 sen to RM6.75, YTL Power jumped 12 sen to RM4.91 and YTL Corp added eight sen to RM3.34.

Public Bank contributed 2.2387 points while CIMB added 1.5397 points to the index. YTL Power and YTL Corp nudged the index higher by 1.4151 and 1.2729 points respectively.

On the broader market, SAM Engineering surged 38 sen to RM5.54, Dutch Lady gained 28 sen to RM34.50 and Chin Hin Group Property advanced 25 sen to RM2.41.

Among the decliners, Nestle fell 30 sen to RM128, Ajinomoto slid 26 sen to RM20.04, PETRONAS Dagangan declined 20 sen to RM21.66 and LPI closed down 18 sen to RM12.20.

SNS Network Technology rose 7.5% or 18.99% to 47 sen with 206.73 million shares. It is one of the most actively traded counters on Bursa Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.7393, up 0.02% against the US dollar.

On the external front, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.66%.

China’sCSI300 index closed up 1.48% at 3,657.88 points while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.16% to 3,140.72 points.

South Korea’s Kospi ended down 0.26% at 2,676.63.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed up 0.55% to 18,578.30 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 0.27% to 3,301.77 points.