KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Bursa Malaysia ended slightly higher today on bargain hunting despite the mixed sentiment surrounding the regional markets.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.07 points better at 1,514.60 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,512.53. 

The index opened 3.20 points higher at 1,515.73 and moved between 1,511.85 and 1,517.39 throughout the session.

However, on the broader market, losers thumped gainers 657 to 326, while 444 counters were unchanged, 799 untraded, and 30 others suspended.

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Turnover fell to 4.38 billion units valued at RM2.67 billion from yesterday’s 4.82 billion units valued at RM2.80 billion. 

A dealer said the local bourse was traded in range-bound mode and was marginally higher throughout the day, tracking the performance of regional peers which took cue from the performance on the Wall Street and European equities which swung between modest gains and losses yesterday.

“However, some Asian markets lost ground amid jittery trading due to uncertainty surrounding China’s technology policy,” he told Bernama.

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Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 4.22 per cent to 25,086.43, Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 0.01 per cent to 3,138.81, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.49 per cent to 27,970.22, and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.24 per cent to 3,232.53.

Meanwhile, Maybank Investment Bank senior chartist Nik Ihsan Raja Abdullah shared that despite paring down earlier gains, the local benchmark index rebounded amid bargain hunting in banking and plantation stocks which rejuvenated the current ailing sentiment.

“Against the backdrop of high daily Covid-19 infections, the domestic sentiment remained weak as traders and investors continued to take a cautious stance.

“Conversely, another record high for vaccinations provides a glimmer of hope as Malaysia gradually transitions into another step of the recovery phase.

“Buying interest, however, remained focused on small caps,” he added.

Of the heavyweights, Public Bank added one sen RM4.01, TNB gained three sen to RM9.73 and IHH Healthcare bagged six sen to RM5.83.

Petronas Chemicals eased four sen to RM7.95, while Maybank was flat at RM8.00.

Among the actives, BCM Alliance OR fell 11.5 sen to half-a-sen, BCM Alliance eased one sen to 14.5 sen, Sersol warrant added 10.5 sen to 30 sen, while Kanger and Serba Dinamik were both flat at seven sen and 42 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 5.03 points to 11,099.34 and the FBMT 100 Index went up 10.36 points to 10,803.63

The FBM 70 shed 2.95 points to 14,604.99, the FBM ACE slipped 72.26 points to 7,251.24, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 5.54 points easier at 12,211.32.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 11.61 points to 14,764.85, the Plantation Index advanced 10.17 points to 6,199.45, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.57 of-a-point to 188.44.

Main Market volume reduced to 2.23 billion shares valued at RM2.06 billion from Monday’s 2.66 billion shares valued at RM2.10 billion.       

Warrants turnover narrowed to 399.40 million units worth RM52.50 million from 437.31 million units worth RM44.91 million yesterday. 

Volume on the ACE Market improved to 1.75 billion shares valued at RM554.18 million from 1.72 billion shares valued at RM647.83 million on Monday.   

Consumer products and services accounted for 430.29 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (651.10 million), construction (133.60 million), technology (327.15 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (83.40 million), property (119.0 million), plantation (20.36 million), REITs (4.11 million), closed/fund (8,000), energy (257.54 million), healthcare (81.23 million), telecommunications and media (37.33 million), transportation and logistics (77.78 million), and utilities (8.04 million). — Bernama