KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 ― Bursa Malaysia extended its bullish performance for the second consecutive day and closed at its intra-day high on improved buying sentiment in the local market due to pre-Chinese New Year rally and steady crude oil prices, a dealer said.

The benchmark FTSE Burse Malaysia (FBM KLCI) ended 12.35 points higher at 1,659.82.

The key index moved between 1,647.99 and 1,659.82 throughout the day after opening 0.52 of-a-point higher at 1,647.99 this morning.

Across the board, advancers outnumbered losers by 601 to 291, with 313 counters unchanged, 522 untraded and 24 others suspended.

Volume increased to 2.51 billion shares worth RM1.84 billion from yesterday's 1.98 billion shares worth RM1.64 billion.

The local market also saw the return of foreign funds as they were realigning their portfolios after liquidating their positions last year. 

Meanwhile, the positive sentiment in the market was also supported by the steady oil prices, of which the US West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were trading at US$53.27 (RM238.90) per barrel, although the benchmark Brent crude futures slipped to US$56.40 per barrel.

Among the counters that supported the key index were Axiata, which went up 14 sen to RM4.65, Maybank rose 11 sen to RM8.19, MISC improved 23 sen to RM7.50, PChem increased nine sen to RM7.20 and Maxis rose eight sen to RM6.15.

Of actives, Sumatec, MQTech and Perisai, all added half-a-sen each to 9.5 sen, five sen and nine sen, respectively, and GPacket edged up 1.5 sen to 30.5 sen, but BornOil slipped half-a-sen to 17 sen.

Among gainers, AeonCR gained 40 sen to RM14.80, SAM and Fareast both improved 30 sen each to RM5.40 and RM8.50, respectively, while MPI added 23 sen to RM7.65.

The FBM Emas Index climbed 83.71 points to 11,619.0, FBMT 100 Index rose 78.52 points to 11,326.10 and the FBM Ace was 39.98 points better at 4,807.41.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index added 95.17 points to 12,213.91 and the FBM 70 was up 69.84 points at 13,247.28.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index rose 22.96 points to 3,192.02, the Finance Index surged 113.66 points to 14,519.76 and the Plantation Index advanced 60.56 points to 7,868.01.

Main Market turnover rose to 1.83 billion units worth RM1.76 billion from 1.41 billion units worth RM1.57 billion recorded yesterday.

The ACE Market volume increased to 439.0 million shares worth RM49.31 million from Wednesday's 331.82 million shares worth RM42.7 million.

Warrants were higher at 224.68 million units valued at RM38.82 million from 233.73 million units worth RM32.8 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 168.19 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (414.90 million), construction (66.06 million), trade and services (823.87 million), technology (146.78 million), infrastructure (12.19 million), SPAC (1.89 million), finance (62.96 million), hotels (939,900), properties (88.45 million), plantations (32.81 million), mining (100), REITs (15.07 million), and closed/fund (46,800). ― Bernama