KUALA LUMPUR: Bargain hunting lifted Bursa Malaysia, tracking a regional uptrend as investors cautiously monitored developments in the Middle East conflict.
The benchmark FBM KLCI rose 14.98 points, or 0.88%, to an intraday high of 1,713.20. The index touched an intraday low of 1,701.83 earlier in the session.
Advancers outpaced decliners on Bursa Malaysia, with 572 gainers against 511 decliners, while 523 counters remained unchanged. Turnover came to 2.85 billion shares valued at RM3.26bil.
Earlier, Bank Negara kept the OPR unchanged at 2.75%, citing a supportive policy stance amid moderate inflation and a steady growth outlook.
Among the gainers, Nestle rose RM1.10 to RM108.10, Malaysian Pacific Industries
added 54 sen to RM31.04, Press Metal gained 25 sen to RM7.65 and Malayan Cement climbed 21 sen to RM8.33.
Among the decliners, F&N fell 90 sen to RM33, Hong Leong Financial Group slipped 42 sen to RM20.84, Allianz-PA declined 38 sen to RM21.18 and AirAsia X dropped 26 sen to RM1.42, while also emerging as the most active counter with 90.26 million shares traded.
Dealers said bargain hunting emerged after the recent sell-off, supported by Bank Negara’s decision to keep the OPR unchanged and a rebound in regional markets.
However, they added that sentiment remained cautious as investors continued to monitor developments in the Middle East conflict and its potential impact on oil prices.
Reuters reported oil prices rose more than 3% on Thursday, extending gains as the escalating U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran fuelled fears of prolonged disruptions to Middle East oil and gas supplies.
Brent crude advanced US$2.75, or 3.38%, to US$84.15 per barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose US$2.76, or 3.7%, to US$77.42.
On the forex market, the ringgit gained 0.04% to 3.9415 against the US dollar but edged down 0.06% to 3.0911 against the Singapore dollar.
On the external front, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was 2.33% higher.
South Korea’s Kospi rebounded from its worst-ever drop, jumping 9.63% to 5,583.90 on Thursday as hopes for US–Iran diplomacy lifted sentiment.
China's blue-chip CSI300 Index closed up 0.98% at 4,647.69, and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.64% to 4,108.57.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.28% to 25,321.34 while Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 1.9% to 55,278.06.
