PETALING JAYA: The stock market ended in the positive territory following Bank Negara’s decision to keep the interest rates unchanged.
The benchmark FBM KLCI gained 20.44 points, or about 1.3%, to close at 1,618.54 yesterday. Volume improved to 3.43 3.43 billion units worth RM3.76bil from 3.23 billion units worth RM3.68bil a day ago.
Despite the uptrend, market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers 530 to 433, while 408 counters were unchanged.
Bank Negara announced that the overnight policy rate (OPR) would be maintained at 1.75% yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng as saying the upward trajectory in FBM KLCI was also boosted by buying support on selected heavyweights such as banking, plantation and oil and gas stocks.
Regionally, he said key indices closed mostly higher following overnight positive performance on Wall Street, while investors were optimistic amid ongoing talks to diffuse the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
“On the domestic front, the performance of the local bourse should remain steady as foreign funds continue to accumulate on local equities, although we do not discount the possibility of intermittent correction,” he said.He said, the FBM KLCI was expected to trend range-bound, hovering within the 1,610 to 1,625 range towards the weekend.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd gained 18 sen to RM9.12, Public Bank Bhd added two sen to RM4.43, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd improved 23 sen to RM10, IHH Healthcare Bhd rose one sen to RM6.57 and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd ticked up 15 sen to RM7.22.
CGS-CIMB Research, in its report yesterday, said it had its end-2022 FBM KLCI target at 1,622 points from 1,612 points based on a forward price-earnings (P/E) multiple of 14.5 times.
“The upgrade in our 2022 KLCI target is to reflect the earnings revisions post-fourth quarter 2021 results season,” it said.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Research, on the other hand, maintained its end-2022 FBM KLCI target at 1,600 based on 15.5 times P/E.
“The government continues to push ahead with economic reopening – easing quarantine guidelines and opening the country’s boarders soon – which should aid earnings recovery this year,” HLIB said.