KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Bursa Malaysia rebounded from choppy trading earlier, with the key index closing at its intraday high today, buoyed by buying in selected heavyweights led by IHH Healthcare.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 9.61 points to 1,604.36 from 1,594.75 at close on Friday.

The barometer index, which opened 1.66 points lower at 1,593.09 this morning, slid to a low of 1,592.47 at one time.

IHH Healthcare, which reportedly remained committed to the acquisition of an additional 26 per cent interest in Fortis Healthcare Ltd and Fortis Malar Hospitals Ltd, surged 21 sen to RM5.56 with 1.40 million shares changing hands.

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The healthcare stock lifted the composite index by a substantial 3.256 points.

Market breadth was slightly negative with losers leading gainers 414 to 392, while 409 counters were unchanged, 784 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Volume narrowed to 2.34 billion shares worth RM1.42 billion from 2.67 billion shares valued at RM1.69 billion last Friday.

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A dealer said despite positive sentiment in the global equity market as investors await further developments on the US-China trade talks, trading on Bursa was a bit volatile during the day due to profit-taking.

However, the uptrend on the regional markets influenced Bursa to follow suit.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei improved 0.49 per cent to 23,416.76, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index chalked up 1.35 per cent to 26,681.09, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.61 per cent to 3,258.66.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee said the benchmark FBM KLCI would likely hit 1,630 points by end-2019 and improve to 1,750 points next year, driven by banking and plantation shares and amid window-dressing activities.

Among heavyweights, Tenaga gained two sen to RM13.70, CIMB bagged 13 sen to RM5.35, while Maybank was flat at RM8.66.

Public Bank eased two sen to RM19.88, while Petronas Chemicals, the biggest loser among index-linked counters, lost eight sen to RM7.36 with 4.62 million shares transacted.

Of the actives, Sapura Energy, Bumi Armada, and Borneo Oil were all flat at 30 sen, 52.5 sen, and 4.5 sen respectively, while MLab inched down half-a-sen sen to six sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 57.06 points higher at 11,370.83, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 56.8 points to 11,182.61, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 72.39 points to 11,908.34, the FBM Ace improved 17.56 points to 4,937.63, and the FBM 70 perked up 29.82 points to 14,125.31.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 34.13 points to 15,645.86, the Plantation Index put on 29.99 points to 6,958.53, but the Industrial Products & Services Index trimmed 0.25 of-a-point to 153.13.

Main Market volume reduced to 1.48 billion shares worth RM1.23 billion compared with 1.83 billion shares valued at RM1.51 billion transacted on Friday.

Warrants turnover widened to 294.68 million units worth RM61.33 million versus 251.89 million units valued at RM57.81 million.

Volume on the ACE Market fell to 568.53 million units worth RM128.17 million compared with 605.81 million units worth RM130.73 million previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 194.38 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (339.26 million), construction (118.91 million), technology (137.38 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (26.36 million), property (107.75 million), plantations (46.45 million), REITs (13.16 million), closed/fund (15,000), energy (400.59 million), healthcare (7.83 million), telecommunications and media (60.92 million), transportation and logistics (16.74 million), and utilities (10.01 million). — Bernama