KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — Bursa Malaysia closed the week on a positive note as the key index settled at its intraday high today, despite the weaker performance in most regional markets, with buying mainly focused on utilities as well as financial services stocks.

YTL Power International increased 31 sen to RM3.68, YTL Corporation added 12 sen to RM2.36 and Maybank rose six sen to RM9.06. These stocks lifted the composite index by a combined 7.53 points.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.34 points to 1,487.34 from Thursday's close of 1,483.00.

The benchmark index opened 0.24 of-a-point firmer at 1,483.24 this morning and hit an intraday low of 1,482.02 in the mid-morning session.

In the broader market, gainers beat decliners 492 to 486, while 445 counters were unchanged, 796 untraded and 29 others suspended.

Turnover declined to 4.08 billion units worth RM2.84 billion from 4.64 billion units worth RM3 billion on Thursday.

SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said the United States (US) headline inflation came in hotter than expected, however, the supercore component, which the US Federal Reserve (Fed) closely watches, came in softer than expected.

"Hence, market-based rate cut expectations for March remain intact, with the US 10-year bond yields still trading sub-four per cent, which is ostensibly favourable for the local bourse," he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices ended mostly lower as investors are cautious following the weak performance on Wall Street overnight.

"With the higher-than-expected US inflation in December, economists predict that the Fed is unlikely to cut interest rates in March, with many anticipating that the central bank will postpone such a move until its May meeting," he said.

Among the other heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals rose four sen to RM6.92, Telekom Malaysia perked seven sen to RM5.82, while Sime Darby Plantation decreased 11 sen to RM4.31, and Tenaga Nasional lost 10 sen to RM10.34.

Of the actives, Ekovest went up 4.5 sen to 59 sen, Sarawak Consolidated increased 4.0 sen to RM1.16, Minetech Resources eased 2.5 sen to 19.5 sen, Hong Seng Consolidated inched down half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, while Widad was flat at 49 sen.

On the index board, the FBM 70 Index put on 49.34 points to 15,163.81, the FBM Emas Index expanded 33.69 points to 11,116.85, the FBMT 100 Index was 32.36 points better at 10,761.88, the FBM Emas Shariah Index garnered 11.63 points to 11,248.98, while the FBM ACE Index shrank 33.19 points to 5,381.43.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index was up by 3.09 points to 865.71, the Financial Services Index bagged 13.39 points to 16,550.04, the Industrial Products and Services Index climbed 0.82 of-a-point to 175.85, the Property Index added 4.65 points to 892.79, and the Plantation Index trimmed 28.69 points to 7,101.93.

The Main Market volume dropped to 2.78 billion units valued at RM2.52 billion from 3.12 billion units valued at RM2.67 billion on Thursday.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 573.39 million units worth RM75.62 million from 671.39 million units worth RM76.17 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume tumbled to 726.07 million shares valued at RM240.75 million versus 834.69 million shares valued at RM252.36 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 321.86 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (887.94 million); construction (251.26 million); technology (323.31 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (66.17 million); property (418.41 million); plantation (26.82 million); REITs (17.97 million), closed/fund (16,200); energy (109.30 million); healthcare (94.07 million); telecommunications and media (26.24 million); transportation and logistics (70.13 million); and utilities (161.55 million). — Bernama