KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — Bursa Malaysia closed on a firm note today on persistent buying interest in selected heavyweights and trade and services counters, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 11.97 points to 1,665.23, after fluctuating between 1,656.55 and 1,666.50 throughout the day. The barometer index opened 3.92 points higher at 1,657.18.

Market breadth was positive with 426 gainers and 333 losers, while 366 counters were unchanged, 554 untraded and 18 others suspended. Volume eased to 1.78 billion units worth RM2.02 billion from 1.9 billion units worth RM2.03 billion on Friday.

A dealer said the better local sentiment was in line with regional stock markets as bearish US economic growth data reduced expectations of a near-term interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in the next few months, prompting investors to eye higher yielding assets in the region. Kenanga Research in a note however said that the bears were likely to persist dominating the scene this week, as further selling pressure on the market was anticipated.

"We are of the view that the FBM KLCI will trend on a downside-bias trajectory towards the 1,643 and possibly 1,620 levels this week,” said the research house.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.40 per cent to 16,635.77, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.41 per cent to 22,199.75 and Singapore’s Straits Times increased by 0.73 per cent to 2,889,68.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank gained one sen to RM8.03, Public Bank increased 18 sen to RM19.68, IHH Healthcare put on two sen to RM6.56 but TNB was flat at RM14.38.

Among actives, TH Heavy edged up one sen to 23 sen, Vivocom gained 1.5 sen to 29 sen, AirAsia X and PDZ Holdings rose half-a-sen each to 40.5 sen and 11 sen, respectively.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index climbed 84.35 points to 11,669.40, the FBMT100 Index rose 86.72 points to 11,370.50 and the FBM 70 surged 119.85 points to 13,326.57. The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 73.33 points to 12,272.10 and the FBM Ace increased 70.31 points to 5,490.51.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 97.04 points to 14,283.49, the Industrial Index increased 23.90 points to 3,119.05, and the Plantation Index added 31.06 points to 7,593.3 Main Market turnover declined to 1.19 billion shares worth RM1.91 billion from 1.29 billion shares valued at RM1.93 billion recorded on Friday.

The ACE Market volume decreased to 393.84 million units worth RM70.77 million from Friday’s 463.16 million units valued at RM65.12 million. Warrants rose to 196.62 million shares worth RM34.49 million from 144.06 million shares valued at RM32.36 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 105.79 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (140.30 million), construction (58.27 million), trade and services (582.34 million), technology (91.48 million), infrastructure (15.56 million), SPAC (13.52 million), finance (79.34 million), hotels (1.14 million), properties (62.43 million), plantations (21.45 million), mining (12,000), REITs (13.86 million) and closed/fund (nil). — Bernama