KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — Bursa Malaysia closed broadly higher today with the key index snapping its four-day losing streak on better market sentiment, dealers said.

At the close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) chalked up 15.58 points to 1,647.50 after moving between 1,627.53 and 1,652.59 throughout the session.

Over two-thirds of the index constituents recorded gains, with Petronas Chemicals being the largest contributor at 2.598 points to the gains in the composite index.

Major gainers among the 30-FBM KLCI constituents were Genting Malaysia, which rose 5.1 per cent amid the positive vibes for the tourism sector following the launch of the National Tourism Policy 2020-2030 earlier today.

The overall market breadth was positive with gainers trouncing losers 841 to 355, while 627 counters were unchanged, 325 untraded and 38 others suspended.

Total volume decreased to 6.35 billion units worth RM3.42 billion from 7.84 billion units worth RM4.14 billion on Tuesday.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the upbeat stock market was lifted by some bargain hunting before the last trading day ahead of the long weekend.

"The FBM KLCI has seen a significant drop recently, so investors took advantage of this to do some 'shopping' or bargain hunting before the Christmas break.

"Nevertheless, the key index might fall tomorrow as investors will sell a lot before the long weekend,” he told Bernama.

Adam said the biggest loser among the sectoral indices was Bursa Malaysia Healthcare Index, which declined by 0.3 per cent as more infections have been discovered in factories of rubber glove makers that could hamper the production of rubber gloves to fulfil the demand as a new variant of Covid-19 was found in the UK.

Meanwhile, a market analyst said positive sentiment emerged in the local bourse following promising news from pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, which announced that the first deliveries of its Covid-19 vaccine, AZD1222, to Malaysia would likely be in the first half of 2021.

Country president Dr Sanjeev Panchal in a statement said the company would be providing 6.4 million doses of its vaccine at no profit.

Another analyst said investors were overwhelmed with this positive news which triggered brisk buying in the lower liners and small market capitalisation (small-cap) stocks, with the FBM ACE rising 176.35 points to 10,653.55 and the FBM Small Cap Index (FBMSCAP) jumping 267.94 points to 15,200.7.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB rose nine sen each to RM8.49 and RM4.21 respectively, Public Bank advanced 14 sen to RM20.60, Tenaga put on 10 sen to RM10.68, Petronas Chemicals bagged 17 sen to RM7.58, Top Glove improved four sen to RM6.73, and Hartalega rose 12 sen to RM12.72.

IHH Healthcare, however, was flat at RM5.65.

As for the actives, Techna-X inched up half-a-sen to 15 sen, AirAsia X added one sen to eight sen, Jiankun fell 11.5 sen to 57 sen, while FGV increased nine sen to RM1.27 following news of the unconditional mandatory takeover offer from the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda).

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 127.39 points stronger at 11,836.85, the FBMT 100 Index chalked up 119.1 points to 11,600.8, the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 126.15 points to 13,307.49, and the FBM 70 advanced 191.66 points to 15,099.44. 

The Industrial Products and Services Index gained 2.98 points to 175.47, the Plantation Index increased 86.04 points to 7,367.49 and the Financial Services Index surged 142.19 points to 15,291.64.

The Main Market volume decreased to 4.07 billion shares worth RM2.81 billion from 4.79 billion shares worth RM3.07 billion on Tuesday. 

Warrants turnover narrowed to 562.13 million units worth RM91.84 million from yesterday’s 625.95 million units worth RM105.86 million. 

Volume on the ACE Market dipped to 1.72 billion shares worth RM509.38 million from 2.42 billion shares worth RM959.21 million previously. 

Consumer products and services accounted for 610.06 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.22 billion), construction (242.97 million), technology (184.23 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (81.86 million), property (644.72 million), plantations (273.99 million), REITs (12.03 million), closed/fund (37,600), energy (561.16 million), healthcare (44.25 million), telecommunications and media (36.46 million), transportation and logistics (94.63 million), and utilities (55.35 million). — Bernama