KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — Last-minute buying lifted Bursa Malaysia to end in positive territory today, ahead of another long weekend.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose slightly by 0.25 of-a-point to 1,601.25 compared to Thursday’s close of 1,601.0.

The market barometer, which opened 0.31 of-a-point lower at 1,600.69, moved between a low of 1,596.33 and a high of 1,603.68.

Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Pong Teng Siew said the market managed to reduce all losses recorded in the morning session amid fresh trading cues.

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“Today’s focus is on specific stocks that have been showing earning growth, not so (much) on sector play, which doesn’t provide much clues.

“As a result, the FBM KLIC is locked in a tight range, trading plus-minus and a few points around the 1,600 level, this week,” he told Bernama.

In addition, Pong said investors also seemed to focus on a few defensive consumer-type stocks.

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“This is a defensive play. As the market enters an optimistic outlook stage, then these stocks will be no more in focus,” he said, adding that financial counters are also doing well this week amid strong loan approval.

For next week, he said: “We have now passed the results season. So, investors are likely the focus on those stocks that have presented or reported good earnings in the previous quarter,” he added.

Of the heavyweights, Hap Seng rose 13 sen to RM9.90, AmBank was 12 sen higher at RM4.17, CIMB added two sen to RM5.02 and Axiata edged up four sen to RM4.27.

Maybank was flat at RM8.90 and Petronas Dagangan went up 20 sen to RM23.30.

Of the actives, Bumi Armada rose three sen to 30.5 sen, I-Stone gained 2.5 sen to 20 sen and Vsolar went down half-a-sen to 10 sen.

Green Packet remained unchanged at 25.5 sen, while Sapura Energy increased one sen to 28 sen.

The FBM Emas Index advanced 28.26 points to 11,311.33, the FBMT100 Index appreciated 28.18 points to 11,146.06 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 25.69 points to 11,832.10.

The FBM Ace up 28.22 points to 4,557.01 and the FBM 70 jumped 144.77 points to 14,017.89.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 21.36 points to 15,571.75, the Plantation Index added 22.86 points to 6,825.17, while the Industrial Products and Services Index dropped 0.25 of-a-point to 152.64.

There were 450 gainers and 324 losers on Bursa Malaysia, while 419 counters remained unchanged, 786 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Turnover was better at 2.10 billion units worth RM1.50 billion from 1.89 billion units worth RM1.74 billion on Thursday.

Main Market volume increased slightly to 1.28 billion shares worth RM1.34 billion from 1.2 billion shares valued at RM1.61 yesterday.

Warrants turnover, however, inched down to 398 million units worth RM76.18 million from 473.85 million units worth RM95.1 million.

Volume on the ACE Market expanded to 424.85 million shares worth RM89.07 million from 214.62 million shares valued at RM38.75 million previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 133.53 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (203.53 million), construction (51.33 million), technology (89.81 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (34.55 million), property (85.57 million), plantations (13.67 million), REITs (20.92 million), closed/fund (18,300), energy (423.68 million), healthcare (28.12 million), telecommunications and media (135.32 million), transportation and logistics (42.79 million), and utilities (18.11 million).

Bursa Malaysia will be closed on Monday for the Malaysia Day holiday. — Bernama