KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 — Bursa Malaysia ended the week on a positive note after a range-bound trading day to close marginally higher, prompted by institutional support.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.40 points higher at 1,609.73 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,609.33.

The key index opened 2.24 points lower at 1,607.09 and moved between 1,606.02 and 1,614.19.

On the broader market, the gap between gainers and losers narrowed to 419 against 412, with 449 counters unchanged, 713 untraded and 16 others suspended.

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An analyst said the index today was mainly supported by local institutions, while foreign, as well as retail investors are staying on the sidelines, as they await the release of key economic data next week.

“These data would serve as a benchmark on how the local economy is doing despite headwinds in the global environment, hence, they would determine the direction of the market,” she said.

The unemployment rate and industrial production data will be released on Monday (Nov 11), followed by retail sales data on Tuesday, and third quarter 2019 gross domestic product and current account data today.

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As for heavyweights, banking counters were among the top performers, with Maybank and Public Bank both gaining eight sen to RM8.83 and RM19.94, respectively, while CIMB Group adding 10 sen to RM5.40, Petronas Chemical rising five sen to RM7.65, and Axiata climbing seven sen to RM4.37.

Of the actives, Sapura Energy inched up 2.5 sen to 29.5 sen, while market debutant Spring Art, Trive Property and NETX were all flat at 25 sen, 1.5 sen, and two sen, respectively.

For top gainers, Vstecs rose 19 sen to RM1.25, Shangri-La hotels surged 29 sen to RM5.29, and Dufu Technology and Tasek Corporation advanced 13 sen to RM2.94 and RM5.50, respectively.

The top losers were led by Nestle which shed RM1.20 to RM145.70, followed by Kuala Lumpur Kepong which declined 40 sen to RM22.50 and United Plantation which lost 30 sen to RM25.58.

The FBM Emas Index was 6.34 higher at 11,395.72, the FBMT 100 Index gained 5.01 points to 11,207.06 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 26.02 points to 11,893.78.

The FBM Ace declined 6.37 points to 4,980.41 and the FBM 70 was 15.34 points firmer at 14,102.56.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 80.14 points to 15,771.55, the Industrial Products & Services Index edged up 0.06 of-a-point to 154.95 and the Plantation Index slid 23.60 to 6,875.15.

Main Market volume rose to 2.19 billion shares worth RM1.92 billion compared with yesterday’s 1.90 billion shares worth RM1.69 billion.

Warrants turnover declined to 285.73 million units worth RM56.94 million from yesterday’s 430.23 million units worth RM78.96 million.

Volume on the ACE Market increased to 624.02 million units worth RM167.85 million from 475.15 million worth RM121.94 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services accounted for 182.84 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (250.71 million), construction (105.45 million), technology (232.42 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (71.21 million), property (334.54 million), plantations (37.88 million), REITs (13.15 million), closed/fund (1,000), energy (875.44 million), healthcare (14.92 million), telecommunications and media (36.10 million), transportation and logistics (26.06 million), and utilities (14.37 million). — Bernama