KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — Bursa Malaysia ended the day at a near three-month high with the barometer index hovering just above 1,590 despite continuous profit-taking activity following a five-day rally.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was higher at 1,590.16 — up 4.42 points from yesterday’s close of 1,585.74 — supported by IHH Healthcare.

The index opened 2.84 points weaker at 1,582.90 and moved between 1,577.31 and 1,594.52 throughout the session.

However, market breadth was negative with decliners surpassing gainers 620 to 393, while 445 counters were unchanged, 801 untraded and 65 others suspended.

Turnover was lower at 4.08 billion units worth RM2.96 billion compared with 4.38 billion units worth RM3.25 billion yesterday.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said other markets in Asia were also not so rosy as many investors were sidelined after the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish wing used the day before a marquee speech by chair Jerome Powell to urge the central bank to begin paring its bond-buying programme.

Powell will deliver a speech at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole gathering later today.

At home, the FBM KLCI closed 0.2 per cent higher at 1,590.2 points today with IHH pushing the Bursa Malaysia Healthcare Index up by 2.9 per cent for the day.

Among healthcare-related heavyweights, IHH soared 51 sen to RM6.35, Hartalega was 20 sen stronger at RM7.25 and, Top Glove gained five sen to RM3.91.

Tenaga Nasional advanced eight sen to RM10.38 and Public Bank rose two sen to RM4.18.

In contrast, Maybank lost eight sen to RM8.37, Dialog went down seven sen to RM2.69 and MR DIY decreased five sen to RM3.61.

Among the actives, KNM and Avillion added two sen each to 26 sen and 14.5 sen, respectively, and Scope Industries dropped 2.5 sen to 31 sen.

Focus Dynamics and Dagang NeXchange were unchanged at five sen and 74.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 21.09 points to 11,560.53, the FBMT 100 Index went up 24.30 points to 11,273.38, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 44.28 points to 12,679.36.

The FBM 70 gained 4.55 points to 14,970.34 while the FBM ACE slipped 47.47 points to 7,214.87.  

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index added 5.31 points to 6,773.68 while the Financial Services Index fell 41.71 points to 15,486.90 and the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.51 of-a-point to 196.56.

Main Market volume increased slightly to 2.88 billion shares worth RM2.65 billion from yesterday’s 2.87 billion shares worth RM2.93 billion.

Warrants turnover eased to 315.54 million units valued at RM45.89 million compared to 364.68 million units valued at RM51.27 million yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market reduced to 880.77 million shares worth RM263.95 million from 1.14 billion shares worth RM274.06 million previously.    

Consumer products and services accounted for 621.41 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (875.59 million), construction (69.69 million), technology (255.88 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (80.15 million), property (105.16 million), plantation (33.37 million), REITs (6.79 million), closed/fund (61,700), energy (600.54 million), healthcare (95.73 million), telecommunications and media (85.21 million), transportation and logistics (29.65 million), and utilities (24.19 million). — Bernama