BURSA Malaysia finished broadly higher after two consecutive days of losses, tracking regional market peers amid the improved performance of global equities, an analyst said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 13.07 points to 1,460.38 from last Friday’s close of 1,447.31.

The key index, which opened 3.63 points higher at 1,450.94, moved between 1,450.94 and 1,468.41 throughout the day.

The broader market was also positive with gainers trouncing losers 450 to 365, while 410 counters were unchanged, 1,137 untraded, and 66 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 2.89 billion units valued at RM1.94 billion versus 2.38 billion units valued at RM1.65 billion last Friday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research VP Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI trended sharply higher with buying interest mainly in plantation, oil and gas, banking as well as telecommunications heavyweights.

He said regionally, key indices closed mostly higher following a positive cue from Wall Street last Friday while investors hoped the US central bank would scale back plans for more rate increases.

As for the local bourse, Thong maintained his cautiously optimistic view as he expected investor sentiment to remain positive given the improving global equities and the local economy.

“We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,450-1,470 for the week with immediate resistance at 1,470 and support at 1,430,” he told Bernama.

Of the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd inched up one sen to RM8.59, Digi.Com Bhd rose four sen to RM3.79, and Axiata Group Bhd gained 13 sen to RM2.85. Both Sime Darby Plantation Bhd and Maxis Bhd were five sen higher at RM4.40 and RM3.85 respectively.

Among the actives, Top Glove Corp Bhd was up half-a-sen to 79.5 sen, Careplus Bhd advanced 4.5 sen to 51.5 sen, CSH Alliance Bhd fell half-a-sen to three sen, and DPS Resources Bhd lost 3.5 sen to seven sen, while MMAG Holdings Bhd and Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd were flat at 2.5 sen and one sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 75.43 points to 10,350.84, the FBM 70 climbed 30.16 points to 12,266.73, and the FBM T100 Index improved 75.08 points to 10,089.93.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened 88.60 points to 10,411.11 while the FBM ACE eased 22.37 points to 4,858.93.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 80.64 points higher at 16,466.68, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 0.35 of a point to 175.80, the Plantation Index rose 36.87 points to 6,879.92, and the Energy Index added 0.93 of a point to 698.50.

The Main Market volume rose to 1.97 billion shares worth RM1.69 billion from 1.6 billion shares worth RM1.42 billion last Friday. 

Warrants turnover slipped to 299.7 million units valued at RM50.78 million from 320.41 million units worth RM58.28 million. 

The ACE Market volume grew to 619.85 million shares worth RM191.38 million from 458.25 million shares worth RM172.45 million previously. 

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 247.72 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (603.63 million), construction (52.65 million), technology (118.68 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (82.13 million), property (258.35 million), plantation (30.60 million), REITs (4.15 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (178.65 million), healthcare (318.39 million), telecommunications and media (25.42 million), transportation and logistics (32.64 million), and utilities (13.08 million). — Bernama/pic by TMR