KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia reversed earlier losses to finish at its intraday high on Thursday as last-minute buying lifted the benchmark index.
The 30-stock index rose 4.84 points, or 0.28%, to 1,720.40, its intraday high, after rebounding from the day's low of 1,710.69.
Decliners outpaced gainers 412 to 581, while 612 counters were unchanged. About 2.49 billion shares, valued at RM2.26bil, changed hands.
Dealers said investors remained selective amid mixed regional sentiment, although buying in selected blue chips during the final hour of trading helped the FBM KLCI end at its intraday high.
Nestle surged RM2.72 to RM99.50, F&N added 60 sen to RM28, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 44 sen to RM21.20 and Allianz climbed 20 sen to RM21.20.
Bursa Malaysia rose 13 sen to RM8.70 after posting strong quarterly results. For the second quarter ended June 30, 2026 (2Q26), Bursa Malaysia saw its net profit rise 25.9% to RM71.78mil from RM57.06mil in 2Q25, while revenue increased 22.3% to RM210.97mil from RM172.58mi.
Among the decliners. Malaysian Pacific Industries
slid RM1.12 to RM43, United Plantations lost 30 sen to RM33.70, Chin Tek fell 22 sen to RM10.82 and Ideal Capital declined 20 sen to RM3.80.
In terms of fund flows, foreign funds remained net sellers on Wednesday, offloading equities worth RM29mil.
Local institutions and retailers were net buyers, with purchases totalling RM16mil and RM13mil, respectively.
Meanwhile, the ringgit weakened 0.1% against the US dollar to 4.0935. The local currency also edged 0.19% lower against the Singapore dollar to 3.1712.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index fell 0.37%, with most regional bourses ending lower.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.71% to 61,867.43 while South Korea’s Kospi closed down 1.23% at 5,593.56.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged up 0.2% to 25,858.88.
China’s CSI300 index fell 1.1% to 4,549.72 while the Shanghai Composite Index eased 0.62% to 3,804.69.
