KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 — Late bargain hunting in selected heavyweights, mainly financial counters, has lifted Bursa Malaysia to end marginally higher on Friday.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched up 0.72 of a point, or 0.04 per cent, to 1,752.83 from Thursday’s close of 1,752.11.

The benchmark had opened 0.68 of-a-point higher at 1,752.79, and moved between 1,746.08 and 1,754.20 throughout the trading session.

However, the broader market was negative with losers thumping gainers 702 to 380, while 519 counters were unchanged, 1,157 counters untraded and 24 suspended.

Turnover was slightly lower at 2.03 billion units worth RM2.20 billion compared to 2.04 billion units worth RM2.52 billion on Thursday.

IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said the benchmark index’s early weakness was driven by profit-taking following yesterday’s 0.62 per cent gain and a softer risk tone amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty.

“On a sectoral basis, financial counters led the gainers, while the consumer products and services sector weighed on overall performance amid profit-taking and more defensive positioning.

“From a flow perspective, foreign investors have turned net buyers, signalling continued global interest in Malaysian equities despite subdued trading activity,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose 16 sen to RM12.22, while Public Bank lost three sen to RM5.03. CIMB was two sen higher at RM8.49, while Tenaga Nasional dropped 10 sen to RM14.16 and IHH Healthcare fell seven sen to RM8.84.

On the most active list, Astro Malaysia added 2.5 sen to 10 sen. Zetrix AI lost two sen to 83.5 sen, while Tanco advanced two sen to RM1.46. Bina Puri and Velesto remained unchanged at 30 sen and 31.5 sen respectively.

Besides Maybank, other top gainers included Nestle, which rose by 20 sen to RM109.70, Fraser and Neave added 18 sen to RM33.14, Chin Teck Plantations bagged 16 sen to RM10.72, and Keyfield International advanced 13 sen to RM1.62.

Leading decliners were PPB, which lost 24 sen to RM10.86, while Malaysian Pacific Industries shed 20 sen to RM30.58, KSL Holdings narrowed 19 sen to RM3.31, Hong Leong Bank fell 18 sen to RM24 and Atlan Holdings tumbled 13 sen to RM2.62.

On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index fell 10.58 points to 12,667.89, the FBM Emas Index dropped 13.69 points to 12,846.78, the FBM Mid 70 Index narrowed 86.10 points to 17,745.70, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 35.50 points to 12,368.29 and the FBM ACE Index eased 6.39 points to 4,822.12.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index edged up 50.57 points to 21,615.67, the Plantation Index edged up by 17.67 points to 8,419.98, the Energy Index inched up 1.77 points to 775.88, while the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.44 of a point lower at 178.06.

The Main Market volume inched down to 1.27 billion units worth RM2.04 billion from 1.35 billion units worth RM2.37 billion on Thursday.

Warrant turnover expanded to 514.93 million units worth RM62.36 million from 467.07 million units worth RM53.90 million previously.

The ACE Market volume perked up to 248.54 million units valued at RM95.89 million from 227.62 million units valued at RM97.82 million, yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 174.75 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (176.47 million), construction (104.18 million), technology (182.29 million), financial services (82.22 million), property (138.80 million), plantation (16.84 million), real estate investment trusts (17.97 million), closed-end fund (23,100), energy (111.16 million), healthcare (56.81 million), telecommunications and media (152.90 million), transportation and logistics (22.68 million), utilities (30.12 million) and business trusts (14,000). — Bernama