KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — Bursa Malaysia closed at its intraday high today, with gains led by the financial services and healthcare sectors, as investors rotated back into defensive and domestic-oriented sectors amid improving global risk appetite, an analyst said.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.93 points to 1,732.66 from Monday’s close of 1,725.73.

The benchmark index opened 0.21 of a point higher at 1,725.94, and subsequently hit a low of 1,722.78 in early trade before gathering momentum throughout the rest of the day to end at its intraday high.

The broader market was also positive with advancers outpacing decliners 621 to 482, while 581 counters were unchanged, 1,052 untraded and 16 suspended.

Turnover improved to 2.80 billion units valued at RM2.81 billion from 2.73 billion units valued at RM2.33 billion on Monday.

IPP Financial Advisers (IPPFA) director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said market sentiment was supported by the rebound in United States technology stocks, which helped restore confidence in the artificial intelligence (AI) theme.

He said the recovery followed a volatile month marked by concerns over whether heavy AI-related capital expenditure would translate into sustainable earnings growth.

“Despite the improved external backdrop, investors remained selective as geopolitical tensions in West Asia continued to cloud the global outlook, favouring sectors with resilient earnings, stable cash flows and strong domestic fundamentals,” he said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank slid six sen to RM10.78, Public Bank gained eight sen to RM5.28, CIMB Group added two sen to RM8.03, IHH Healthcare climbed 13 sen to RM8.43, and Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM14.50.

As for the most active stocks, Zetrix AI was one sen higher at 73.5 sen, Mr D.I.Y. dropped 10 sen to RM1.52, NationGate Holdings put on six sen to RM1.29, HHRG was unchanged at 11.5 sen, and Dataprep Holdings was one sen lower to six sen.

Leading gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries, which perked up 70 sen to RM46.72, Kelington Group jumped 52 sen to RM8.72, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Fraser & Neave garnered 32 sen each to RM21.32 and RM27.82, respectively, and Petronas Dagangan improved 26 sen to RM19.70.

As for top losers, Nestle lost 90 sen to RM101.80, United Plantations and Hong Leong Industries erased 16 sen each to RM34.04 and RM17.84, respectively, while Kim Loong Resources and Gas Malaysia slipped 12 sen each to RM2.66 and RM5.05, respectively.

Among the broader indices, the FBM Mid 70 Index increased 100.99 points to 18,211.50, the FBM Emas Shariah Index leapt 65.14 points to 12,622.51, and the FBM ACE Index advanced 36.12 points to 5,017.44.

The FBM Emas Index grew 56.90 points to 12,809.32 and the FBM Top 100 Index rose 55.51 points to 12,640.71

By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.38 points to 188.68, the Financial Services Index jumped 80.99 points to 20,519.19, the Plantation Index surged 72.25 points to 9,377.31, and the Energy Index inched up by 0.64 of a point to 764.53.

The Main Market volume expanded to 1.46 billion units valued at RM2.53 billion compared to 1.38 billion units valued at RM2.05 billion on Monday.

Warrants turnover trimmed to 859.77 million units worth RM112.63 million versus 868.17 million units worth RM122.04 million previously.

The ACE Market volume slipped to 469.03 million units valued at RM168.07 million from 474.34 million units valued at RM164.93 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 191.53 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (310.41 million), construction (87.91 million), technology (308.04 million), financial services (107.17 million), property (124 million), plantation (39.07 million), real estate investment trusts (28.28 million), closed-end fund (91,300), energy (92.84 million), healthcare (80.95 million), telecommunications and media (24.86 million), transportation and logistics (43.63 million), utilities (25.45 million), and business trusts (19,400). — Bernama