KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Trading volume on Bursa Malaysia surged to a record 4.39 billion units on Wednesday, driven by strong speculative trading in penny stocks while the FBM KLCI hit a six-month high of 1,553 as it played catch-up with regional peers.
At the close, the KLCI was up 14.41 points or 0.94%, aided by late buying of Tenaga, to 1,553.18 – the highest since Aug 2, 2011. Turnover was 4.39 billion shares valued at RM3.29 billion units. There were 593 gainers, 322 losers and 293 stocks unchanged.
Regional markets also put up a strong performance, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 1.10% to 9,015.59, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.54% to 21,018.40, Shanghai’s Composite Index added 2.43% to 2,347.53.
Taiwan’s Taiex added 2.11% to 7,869.91, South Korea’s Kospi 1.12% to 2,003.73 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index 0.83% to 2,982.20.
In Europe, Britain's top share index rose in early deals with miners led up by metal prices and UK banks rallying as Citigroup kept its bullish stance on the sector, while the expectations of a Greek debt deal lingered in the background.
London's blue chip index rose 12.37 points, or 0.2% to 5,902.36 by 0932 GMT, pushing ahead after consolidating recent gains over the previous two trading days.
At Bursa Malaysia, the market got off to a staring start after an extended weekend, as speculators and investors were also quick to rush in to pick up riskier assets.
Among the index-linked stocks, Tenaga was the top mover performer, pushing the KLCI up by 4.99 points when it climbed 39 sen to RM6.38 while Sime Darby added 22 sen to RM9.68, pushing the index up by 3.12 points.
Among the banks, Public Bank rose 20 sen to RM13.96, CIMB 11 sen to RM7.11 and Maybank eight sen to RM8.41, pushing the KLCI up by a cumulative 5.59 points.
PPB was the top performer, rising 52 sen to RM17.72, Petronas Dagangan and Batu Kawan 50 sen each to RM18.86 and RM19.90. Hartalega added 33 sen to RM7.98.
Naim Indah jumped 31 sen to 49 sen with 267.36 million units done on expectations of a new major shareholder. Bursa Malaysia, which will announce its results on Thursday, added 30 sen to RM7.50.
Compugates was the most active with 451.47 million units done, prompting a query from the Bursa Malaysia Securities. It rose 3.5 sen to 12.5 sen.
GENTING BHD [] fell the most, down 50 sen to RM10.50 and Genting Malaysia 20 sen to RM3.81. RHB Research Institute said it was maintaining its Outperform recommendation on Genting Malaysia and its sum-of-parts fair value of RM4.20.
F&N was down 30 sen to RM17.30 after announcing lower first quarter earnings.
At the close, the KLCI was up 14.41 points or 0.94%, aided by late buying of Tenaga, to 1,553.18 – the highest since Aug 2, 2011. Turnover was 4.39 billion shares valued at RM3.29 billion units. There were 593 gainers, 322 losers and 293 stocks unchanged.
Regional markets also put up a strong performance, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 1.10% to 9,015.59, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.54% to 21,018.40, Shanghai’s Composite Index added 2.43% to 2,347.53.
Taiwan’s Taiex added 2.11% to 7,869.91, South Korea’s Kospi 1.12% to 2,003.73 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index 0.83% to 2,982.20.
In Europe, Britain's top share index rose in early deals with miners led up by metal prices and UK banks rallying as Citigroup kept its bullish stance on the sector, while the expectations of a Greek debt deal lingered in the background.
London's blue chip index rose 12.37 points, or 0.2% to 5,902.36 by 0932 GMT, pushing ahead after consolidating recent gains over the previous two trading days.
At Bursa Malaysia, the market got off to a staring start after an extended weekend, as speculators and investors were also quick to rush in to pick up riskier assets.
Among the index-linked stocks, Tenaga was the top mover performer, pushing the KLCI up by 4.99 points when it climbed 39 sen to RM6.38 while Sime Darby added 22 sen to RM9.68, pushing the index up by 3.12 points.
Among the banks, Public Bank rose 20 sen to RM13.96, CIMB 11 sen to RM7.11 and Maybank eight sen to RM8.41, pushing the KLCI up by a cumulative 5.59 points.
PPB was the top performer, rising 52 sen to RM17.72, Petronas Dagangan and Batu Kawan 50 sen each to RM18.86 and RM19.90. Hartalega added 33 sen to RM7.98.
Naim Indah jumped 31 sen to 49 sen with 267.36 million units done on expectations of a new major shareholder. Bursa Malaysia, which will announce its results on Thursday, added 30 sen to RM7.50.
Compugates was the most active with 451.47 million units done, prompting a query from the Bursa Malaysia Securities. It rose 3.5 sen to 12.5 sen.
GENTING BHD [] fell the most, down 50 sen to RM10.50 and Genting Malaysia 20 sen to RM3.81. RHB Research Institute said it was maintaining its Outperform recommendation on Genting Malaysia and its sum-of-parts fair value of RM4.20.
F&N was down 30 sen to RM17.30 after announcing lower first quarter earnings.
