KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Bursa Malaysia ended higher today on improved buying momentum and in line with regional markets.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.61 points or 0.57 per cent to end the day at 1,526.32 from Tuesday’s close of 1,517.71.

The index opened 10.27 points higher at 1,527.98 and hovered between 1,510.71 and 1,528.63 throughout the trading session.

The overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing decliners 562 to 439, while 380 counters were unchanged, 536 untraded and 19 others suspended.

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Total volume decreased to 7.55 billion shares worth RM3.82 billion from 7.97 billion shares worth RM4.14 billion on Wednesday.

AxiCorp chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said there were concerns on the resurgence of Covid-19 but the market will look through those unless it becomes an unlikely super spreader as it is very unlikely there will be a secondary global lockdown given the financial devastation from the first phase.

“But risk has recovered supported by the prospect of more stimulus from China wich is expected to cut its reserve requirement ratio and possibly lower interest rates later this month, which would be great for regional stock market sentiment,” he told Bernama.

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Innes said risk would likely be capped until the Covid-19 case counts start to drop again.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.71 per cent to 2,671.04, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.56 per cent to 24,481.41 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 eased 0.56 per cent to 22,455.76.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was one sen higher at RM7.77, Public Bank jumped 54 sen to RM16.96, Maxis climbed 14 sen to RM5.45, MISC was flat at RM8.14, TNB shed 12 sen to RM11.88, Petronas Chemicals fell five sen to RM6.50, and IHH Healthcare slipped four sen to RM5.39.

Of the most active, MTouche bagged one sen to eight sen, KNM went up 1.5 sen to 24.5 sen, Netx and Lambo were flat at one sen and two sen respectively, AT Systematization discounted 1.5 sen to 13 sen and Ucrest declined four sen to 17 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 56.43 points to 10,724.37, the FBMT 100 Index improved 52.64 points to 10,580.71 and the FBM 70 was 36.27 points higher at 13,115.35.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded 11.22 points to 12,113.74 and the FBM ACE increased 83 points to 5,980.13.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.36 point to 136.13, the Plantation Index went up 28.01 points to 6,775.04 and the Financial Services Index jumped 137.33 points to 13,218.45.

Main Market volume decreased to 3.91 billion shares worth RM3.08 billion from Wednesday’s 4.27 billion shares worth RM3.26 billion.

Warrants turnover depreciated to 502.69 million units worth RM100.47 million from 565.24 million units valued at RM145.24 million yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market was flat at 3.13 billion shares worth RM641.86 million from 3.13 billion shares worth RM728.32 million.

Consumer products and services accounted for 512.79 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (793.88 million), construction (310.21 million), technology (679.25 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (34.02 million), property (190.35 million), plantations (49.17 million), REITs (12.42 million), closed/fund (485,600), energy (908.52 billion), healthcare (54.70 million), telecommunications and media (266.11 million), transportation and logistics (75.98 million), and utilities (21.71 million). — Bernama