KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher today, lifted by buying interest in most heavyweights, led by energy and technology stocks, amid improving market sentiment across the region, said a dealer.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) put on 2.74 points or 0.18 per cent to 1,487.87 from yesterday's closing of 1,485.13.
The market bellwether opened 1.91 points better at 1,487.04 and moved between 1,484.21 and 1,489.00 throughout the trading day.
Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 573 to 340, while 390 counters were unchanged, 898 untraded, and 10 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 3.57 billion units worth RM2.17 billion against yesterday's 3.19 billion units worth RM1.91 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said regional indices closed broadly higher, boosted by the upbeat performance on Wall Street overnight ahead of market-moving reports due later in the week.
"Meanwhile, investors are buoyed by China’s border reopening, which keeps the market undertone steady,” he told Bernama.
On the domestic front, he reckoned that the local market equities will further improve driven by positive investor sentiment in the region.
"Additionally, buying support from local institutions have been rather apparent, hence, we reckon the index will show a more positive performance and expect it to hover between 1,480 and 1,500 range for the remainder of the week,” he added.
Region-wise, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.49 per cent to 21,436.05, Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.26 per cent to 3,271.51, Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased 1.03 per cent to 26,446.00, and South Korea’s Kospi went up 0.35 per cent to 2,359.53.
Among heavyweights, Dialog Group
added three sen to RM2.58, Inari Amertron gained one sen to RM2.65, Digi.com climbed 12 sen to RM4.10, Maybank perked up four sen to RM8.83, and CIMB edged up five sen to RM5.77.
As for the actives, DNeX advanced 5.5 sen to 56 sen, Cypark Resources and DS Sigma rose 1.5 sen each to 71.5 sen and 65.5 sen respectively, Velesto Energy ticked up half-a-sen to 16.5 sen, while Citaglobal shed three sen to 32 sen. - Bernama
