KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Bursa Malaysia snapped a seven-day losing streak to close slightly higher today, lifted by continuous buying in selected heavyweights.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 6.14 points to 1,657.58 from yesterday’s close of 1,651.44.

The index moved between 1,636.05 and 1,659.44 throughout the day, after opening 6.67 points easier at 1,644.77.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 483 to 342 while 356 counters were unchanged, 514 untraded and seven others suspended.

Total volume was unchanged at 1.69 billion shares worth RM2.13 billion against yesterday’s 1.69 billion shares valued at RM1.73 billion.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President and Retail Research Head Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said despite the rebound today, most traders would still take a cautious stance in view of the upcoming United States (US) nonfarm payrolls report this Friday.

“Most traders are now focused on the US April job figures, which will be a key gauge of the performance of the US economy,” he told Bernama.

For heavyweights, Maybank added six sen to RM8.54, TNB was flat at RM14.08, Public Bank rose 36 sen to RM18.92 while Petronas Chemicals fell three sen to RM6.64.

Among top gainers, BAT rose RM3.80 to RM46.80, Panasonic Manufacturing increased 70 sen to RM29.20 and United Plantations added 50 sen to RM26.50.

As for actives, Vivocom added half-a-sen to 34.5 sen, SapuraKencana fell five sen to RM1.59 and AirAsia X improved 1.5 sen to 34.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index perked 49.72 points to 11,554.71, the FBMT100 Index added 47.60 points to 11,252.09, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 28.63 points to 12,117.39.

The FBM Ace gained 37.61 points at 5,656.25 and the FBM 70 rose 76.13 points to 12,950.18.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index was up 35.98 points to 14,445.31, the Industrial Index increased 31.03 points to 3,165.07 and the Plantation Index inched up 0.13 of-a-point to 7,621.22.

Main Market turnover rose to 1.18 billion units worth RM2.04 billion from yesterday’s 1.16 billion units valued at RM1.62 billion.

The ACE Market turnover fell to 298.66 million units worth RM64.65 million from 352.25 million units valued at RM75.27 million recorded yesterday.

Warrants increased to 219.44 million units worth RM23.78 million from 172.25 million units valued at RM28.82 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 165.65 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (253.35 million), construction (72.80 million), trade and services (445.15 million), technology (39.17 million), infrastructure (8.41 million), SPAC (60.99 million), finance (38.45 million), hotels (994,900), properties (62.24 million), plantations (24.22 million), mining (42,800), REITs (8.57 million) and closed/fund (13,000). — Bernama