KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — Bursa Malaysia has extended its winning streak for the fifth consecutive day with the key index ending at its 18-month high — a level that was last seen on July 4 last year, thanks to the buying-spree among the banking heavyweights.

Amidst the mixed regional trend, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 30.19 points or 1.83 per cent to finish at 1,684.58, after moving between 1,660.49 and 1,689.77 throughout the day.

However, on the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 690 to 626, while 433 counters were unchanged, 2,137 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Total volume increased to 10.03 billion shares worth RM6.19 billion from 8.1 billion shares valued at RM4.83 billion on Thursday.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the banking stocks were on the rise due to expectations that the economy would do well next year.

He also said the anticipation that the overnight policy rate (OPR) would be kept unchanged next year also lifted sentiments as it could help improve banks’ net interest margin.

“The Covid-19 vaccine would certainly help to reopen the economy in a more convincing way, and therefore, economic activities would be more lively next year.

“That’s probably the main reason (for the buying-spree),” he told Bernama.

The next Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting is scheduled to be held on Jan 20, 2021.

Banking counters Public Bank soared RM1.70 to RM21.90, Maybank bagged 53 sen to RM8.91, CIMB gained 17 sen to RM4.45, Hong Leong Financial advanced 64 sen to RM18.64, and Hong Leong went up 10 sen to RM19.00.

Hefty gains by banking heavyweights helped push the Financial Services Index stronger by a substantial 727.09 points to 16,046.13.

Among other heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals advanced 23 sen to RM7.89, IHH Healthcare added one sen to RM5.58, while Tenaga fell 16 sen to RM10.34.

Meanwhile, Top Glove declined nine sen to RM6.90 due to profit-taking following its recent gains, and Hartalega gave up 64 sen to RM13.72. 

As for the actives, IRIS gained 2.5 sen to 39 sen, Bumi Armada perked two sen to 38 sen, Sino Hua-An added one sen to 13 sen, while both Sapura Energy and Nexgram inched up half-a-sen to 13 sen and 5.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 162.84 points to 12,085.71, the FBMT 100 Index jumped 165.83 points to 11,848.74, the FBM ACE earned 31.18 points to 11,071.1 and the FBM 70 added 32.18 points to 15,370.01.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 49.46 points to 13,431.53.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.29 point to 177.67 and the Plantation Index advanced 57.08 points for 7,412.09.

The Main Market volume increased to 5.99 billion shares worth RM5.11 billion from 4.72 billion shares worth RM3.76 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover ballooned to 1.23 billion units worth RM216.62 million from yesterday’s 674.26 million units worth RM119.33 million.

Volume on the ACE Market improved to 2.8 billion shares worth RM861.41 million from 2.7 billion shares worth RM943.75 million previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 907.1 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.37 billion), construction (327.94 million), technology (311.45 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (294.61 million), property (391.96 million), plantations (95.46 million), REITs (11.39 million), closed/fund (62,000), energy (1.81 billion), healthcare (107.06 million), telecommunications and media (58.56 million), transportation and logistics (128.59 million), and utilities (174.49 million). — Bernama