KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 — Bursa Malaysia ended higher with the key index bouncing back stronger by 1.38 per cent today, in anticipation of a swift decision on Malaysia’s next administration. 

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) soared 20.69  points to end the day at 1,523.59 from yesterday’s close of 1,502.90. 

The market bellwether opened 2.37 points higher at an intraday low of 1,505.27 and hit an intraday high of 1,524.71 during the trading session today.

Market breadth remained positive at the close with gainers leading losers 621 to 395, while 407 counters were unchanged, 777 untraded, and eight others suspended.

Turnover decreased to 4.32 billion units worth RM2.38 billion from 5.03 billion units worth RM2.37 billion yesterday. 

According to news reports, all parliamentarians have been instructed to submit their vote on their candidate to become the next prime minister to Istana Negara, until 4 pm on Wednesday (Aug 18).

Rakuten Trade head of equity sales Vincent Lau said the current market strength was lifted by the index-linked stocks and this upward momentum is likely to sustain for the remaining trading sessions of the week.

“It depends on how soon they can come up with a new government and directions,” he told Bernama.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank jumped eight sen to RM8.14, Public Bank gained two sen to RM3.85, Petronas Chemicals put on five sen to RM8, TNB surged 19 sen to RM9.94, CIMB bagged nine sen to RM4.60, and IHH Healthcare fell two sen to RM5.78.

Among the actives, Advance Synergy was five sen higher at 22.5 sen, Malayan United Industries rose one sen to 10.5 sen, Fintec was flat at 2.5 sen, while Avillion and Komarkcorp eased one sen each to 20 sen and 11.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 120.73 points to 11,121.14, the FBMT 100 Index improved 123.31 points to 10,840.97, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 145.91 points to 12,226.61, the FBM 70 went up 72.19 points to 14,551.09, and the FBM ACE surged 42.92 points to 7,132.14. 

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 76.20 points to 6,323.43, the Financial Services Index added 113.20 points to 14,844.87, and the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 2.82 points to 190.75.

Main Market volume decreased to 2.88 billion shares worth RM2.06 billion from yesterday’s 3.30 billion shares worth RM2.03 billion.  

Warrants turnover dwindled to 260.50 million units worth RM39.63 million from 321.58 million units worth RM38.77 million yesterday.  

Volume on the ACE Market declined to 1.05 billion shares worth RM269.09 million from 1.25 billion shares worth RM298.03 million. 

Consumer products and services accounted for 1.10 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (722.80 million), construction (85.89 million), technology (259.01 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (73.46 million), property (216.77 million), plantation (34.53 million), REITs (4.39 million), closed/fund (17,000), energy (235.39 million), healthcare (40.63 million), telecommunications and media (24.61 million), transportation and logistics (61.22 million), and utilities (21.60 million). — Bernama