KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 — Bursa Malaysia staged a strong rally to end higher for a fifth consecutive day today, pushing the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) to an intraday high due to strong market sentiment.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 12.5 points or 0.87 per cent to settle at its intraday high of 1,449.29 from 1,436.79 at yesterday’s close.

The market bellwether opened 0.09 of-a-point lower at 1,436.70 this morning before gaining momentum to move in an upward trajectory towards closing.

The broader market was also positive as advancers beat decliners 488 to 450, while 443 counters were unchanged, 912 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 4.25 billion units worth RM2.46 billion.

The FBM KLCI has gained 46.26 points over the last five trading days.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI has displayed another splendid performance, breaking five resistance levels within the last three weeks, with buying across the board.

"We maintain our cautiously optimistic view on the market due to foreign funds' support and the cheap valuations of the local market compared to regional peers.

"Nevertheless, we expect a healthy correction in the near future following the recent rally,” he told Bernama.

Furthermore, Thong said the anticipated US interest rate hike could have some negative impact on global market sentiment.

"Hence, we maintain our weekly FBM KLCI target at 1,430-1,450 for the time being.

"Having broken the 1,445 resistance, we shall see the next resistance level at 1,460, with support at 1,415,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank widened two sen to RM9.00, Public Bank rose three sen to RM4.08, CIMB added five sen to RM5.48, Tenaga Nasional perked 13 sen to RM9.60 and Petronas Chemicals gained 24 sen to RM7.00.

Of the actives, ACE Market debutant Daythree Digital surged 32.5 sen to 62.5 sen, UEM Sunrise increased 6.5 sen to 54 sen, Malaysian Resources Corporation was flat at 39 sen while Hong Seng Consolidated and Joe Holding slid half-a-sen each to nine sen and one sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 59.80 points to 10,650.36, the FBMT 100 Index was 63.38 points better at 10,339.95 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 57.50 points to 10,932.82, while the FBM ACE Index trimmed 1.36 points to 5,320.31 and the FBM 70 Index went down 23.89 points to 13,960.37.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index garnered 98.25 points to 16,102.88, the Energy Index rose 4.22 points to 834.42, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 1.93 points to 168.23, and the Plantation Index put on 14.15 points to 7,212.17.

The Main Market volume advanced to 3.01 billion units valued at RM2.14 billion from 2.53 billion units valued at RM2.02 billion on Tuesday.

Warrant turnover declined to 368.29 million units worth RM54.34 million versus 498.07 million units worth RM75.70 million previously.

The ACE Market volume soared to 865.50 million shares valued at RM273.40 million compared to 694.15 million shares valued at RM220.44 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 283.82 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (663.25 million); construction (156.91 million); technology (556.03 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (114.74 million); property (796.45 million); plantation (42.61 million); REITs (18.92 million), closed/fund (12,000); energy (182.49 million); healthcare (61.21 million); telecommunications and media (40.14 million); transportation and logistics (19.40 million); and utilities (77.33 million). — Bernama