KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — Bursa Malaysia snapped a three-day losing streak to end higher today on persistent buying support in financial services as well as healthcare counters, amid mixed sentiments on the regional markets, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 12.37 points to 1,531.22 from yesterday’s close of 1,518.85.

Maybank gained 11 sen to RM8.11 and Top Glove increased 15 sen to RM2.45, lifting the key index higher by a combined 4.49 points.

The FBM KLCI opened 3.84 points higher at 1,522.69 and fluctuated between 1,520.67 and 1,532.64 throughout the trading session.

The broader market was positive as advancers outpaced decliners 521 to 414, while 459 counters were unchanged, 921 untraded, and 19 others suspended.

Turnover rose to 3.11 billion units valued at RM2.62 billion from Thursday’s 3.02 billion units valued at RM2.24 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI rebounded on bargain-hunting activities and foreign buying support.

“The benchmark index gained 0.81 per cent to close at 1,531.22, lifted mainly by gloves and banking counters. Key regional markets also ended higher following overnight gains for tech stocks stateside as the Nasdaq Composite rebounded.

“China/Hong Kong stocks rose on optimism Beijing will ease regulatory curbs to shore up growth,” he told Bernama today.

On the domestic front, he said the local bourse trended higher and managed to close above the 1,520 support level.

Among other heavyweights, Public Bank was flat at RM4.02, Petronas Chemicals added 1.0 sen to RM8.31, CIMB went up 3.0 sen to RM5.04, while IHH Healthcare slipped 3.0 sen to RM6.43 and TNB declined 1.0 sen to RM9.62.

Of the actives, DNeX and LKL International went up 1.0 sen each to 84 sen and 12 sen, respectively, AirAsia X rose 1.5 sen to 7.5 sen, while NWP Holdings improved 2.0 sen to 35.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 87.66 points to 11,328.85, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 90.07 points to 10,967.31, the FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 106.48 points to 12,340.02, the FBM 70 surged 128.77 points to 15,002.54, while the FBM ACE advanced 19.71 points to 6,977.99.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.78 of-a-point to 201.67, the Plantation Index bagged 56.85 points to 6,672.94, while the Financial Services Index rose 87.46 points to 15,205.71.

The Main Market volume increased to 2.04 billion shares worth RM2.22 billion from 1.95 billion shares worth RM1.88 billion yesterday. 

Warrants turnover decreased to 251.82 million units worth RM55.26 million versus 309.20 million units worth RM57.53 million yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market expanded to 810.81 million shares valued at RM338.01 million from Thursday’s 760.56 million shares valued at RM301.63 million.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 481.82 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (564.35 million), construction (61.22 million), technology (395.52 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (65.24 million), property (165.36 million), plantation (13.16 million), REITs (2.61 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (98.40 million), healthcare (115.73 million), telecommunications and media (23.42 million), transportation and logistics (47.06 million), and utilities (7.76 million). — Bernama