KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher on Friday, supported by a strong rebound in financial services stocks that lifted the overall market sentiment, in line with gains across regional markets.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 13.85 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 1,691.49 from Thursday's close of 1,677.64.
The benchmark index opened 5.14 points better at 1,682.78, marking its intraday low, and hit its highest level of 1,696.25 during the midday trading session.
Market breadth was positive, with gainers beating losers 648 to 443, while 581 counters were unchanged, 1,044 untraded, and 25 suspended.
Turnover increased to 2.85 billion units valued at RM2.25 billion from 2.64 billion units valued at RM2.19 billion on Wednesday.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) decision to maintain the overnight policy rate (OPR) at 2.75 per cent yesterday provided greater policy certainty for investors and businesses amid concerns over global energy prices and operating costs.
"Adding to the positive tone, foreign investors turned net buyers for a second consecutive trading session after an extended period of persistent net selling.
"This represents an early sign of improving confidence in Malaysian equities, supported by the country's resilient macroeconomic fundamentals, stable monetary policy and relatively attractive market valuations,” he told Bernama.
Mohd Sedek also said that market sentiment improved as concerns over escalating geopolitical tensions eased after oil prices stabilised towards the end of a volatile week.
"Brent crude traded near US$76 per barrel after falling more than two per cent in the previous session, as the United States and Iran continued technical negotiations despite renewed fighting that had briefly disrupted shipping activity through the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB gained four sen each to RM10.90, RM4.89, and RM7.64, respectively, IHH Healthcare advanced 12 sen to RM8.44, and Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM14.30.
As for the active stocks, Tanco inched up half a sen to 19.5 sen, Zetrix AI added 2.5 sen to 75 sen, Nationgate climbed 7.5 sen to 88 sen, HHRG was 1.5 sen higher at 11 sen, while SRKK AI eased one sen to 60 sen.
Of the top gainers, Fraser & Neave added 78 sen to RM29.70, Nestle rose 50 sen to RM91.80, DKLS Industries
surged 41 sen to RM1.83, UMS Integration jumped 40 sen to RM8.16, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong garnered 38 sen to RM21.60.
Allianz Malaysia led the losers list, falling 28 sen to RM20.84, Malaysian Pacific Industries lost 26 sen to RM46.00, Vitrox shed 15 sen to RM7.39, United Plantations slipped 14 sen to RM34.26, and Apollo Food declined 13 sen to RM5.84.
Among the broader indices, the FBM Emas Index increased 83.33 points to 12,523.81, the FBMT 100 Index jumped 86.23 points to 12,354.33, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index soared 93.33 points to 12,373.61.
The FBM 70 Index increased 60.83 points to 17,858.47 and the FBM ACE Index added 2.34 points to 4,893.43.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index jumped 93.58 points to 19,921.66, the Plantation Index leapt 125.33 points to 9,202.31, and the Industrial Products and Services Index climbed 1.92 points to 182.58, while the Energy Index slid 5.14 points to 768.82.
The Main Market volume expanded to 1.31 billion units valued at RM1.93 billion compared with 1.09 billion units valued at RM1.83 billion on Thursday.
Warrants turnover edged up to 1.05 billion units worth RM139.75 million versus 1.03 billion units worth RM138.27 million previously.
The ACE Market volume decreased to 491.14 million units valued at RM177.02 million from 520.91 million units valued at RM219.12 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 232.74 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (249.32 million), construction (62.29 million), technology (221.40 million), financial services (55.17 million), property (228.05 million), plantation (30.54 million), real estate investment trusts (11.01 million), closed-end fund (34,400), energy (67.15 million), healthcare (61.26 million), telecommunications and media (29.78 million), transportation and logistics (24.33 million), utilities (30.85 million), and business trusts (1.46 million). - Bernama
