BURSA Malaysia has continued to rise, in line with positive regional performance and as a result of improved market sentiment following positive cues from Wall Street overnight, said a dealer.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 4.8 points to end at 1,500.29 compared to Thursday’s closing of 1,495.49.

The benchmark index opened 0.89 of-a-point firmer at 1,496.38 this morning and traded between 1,495.68 points and 1,507.49 points throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with losers beat gainers 499 to 376, while 415 counters were unchanged, 1,069 untraded and 35 others suspended.

Total turnover fell to 2.4 billion units worth RM1.86 billion from 2.64 billion units worth RM2.1 billion yesterday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd VP of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI gained 0.32% or 4.8 points to end at 1,500.29 alongside key regional markets, which were also mostly higher following a positive Wall Street overnight.

“We expect the buying momentum on the FBM KLCI to go on as foreign funds continue to flow into the region while valuations on the local market remain attractive compared to regional peers,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.57% to 28,641.38, South Korea’s Kospi improved 0.15% to 2,481.03, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.01% to 20,170.04, while China’s SSE Composite Index erased 0.31% to 3,236.22.

Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd perked up seven sen at RM8.91, Public Bank Bhd was two sen better at RM4.63, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd advanced four sen at RM8.69 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd improved six sen at RM5.46.

Among the most active counters, Metronic Global Bhs added half sen to seven sen, Agmo Holdings Bhd increased 6.5 sen at 89.5 sen, MyEG Services Bhd was down 1.5 sen at 75.5 sen and MQ Technology Bhd, Dagang NeXchange Bhd and Green Packet Bhd were all lost half-a-sen at 3.5 sen, 87.5 sen and five sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM ACE Index fell 34.50 points to 4,956.37, FBM T100 Index added 27.35 points to 10,393.36, FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 3.13 points to 10,759.97, FBM 70 perked up 9.93 points to 12,746.15, while the FBM Emas Index improved 23.01 points to 10,648.84.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 75.06 points to 16,723.69, Plantation Index advanced 100.71 points to 7,054.34, Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.87 of-a-point easier at 182.18, while the Energy Index slipped by 5.41 points to 727.44.

The Main Market volume fell to 1.47 billion shares worth RM1.48 billion from 1.71 billion shares worth RM1.75 billion on Thursday.

Warrants’ turnover narrowed to 343.35 million units valued at RM56.16 million from 453.52 million units valued at RM66.12 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume swelled to 580.52 million shares worth RM326.75 million from 475.13 million shares worth RM291.75 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 196.75 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (398.61 million), construction (79.83 million), technology (196.69 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (49.55 million), property (102.67 million), plantation (31.22 million), REITs (5.25 million), closed/fund (23,000), energy (200.8 million), healthcare (84.14 million), telecommunications and media (78.22 million), transportation and logistics (28.18 million), and utilities (22.62 million). — Bernama / TMRpic