KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Bursa Malaysia ended higher today in line with regional equities as bargain hunting emerged after the benchmark index briefly slipped below the psychological 1,700 level in recent trading sessions.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 14.98 points, or 0.88 per cent, to close at an intraday high of 1,713.20 from Wednesday’s close of 1,698.22,

The benchmark index opened 8.03 points higher at 1,706.25 and slipped to an intraday low of 1,701.83 in early trade.

Gainers beat losers by 572 to 511, while 523 counters were unchanged, 1,016 untraded, and 11 suspended.

Turnover declined to 2.85 billion units worth RM3.26 billion from Wednesday’s 3.51 billion units worth RM3.79 billion.

IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said the FBM KLCI opened firmer this morning and maintained its upward momentum into the afternoon session. As a result, today’s gains recovered most of the losses recorded yesterday.

He added that the rebound suggested that investors were carefully buying stocks with strong fundamentals following the recent market pullback.

Among the index constituents, gains were led mainly by basic materials and oil-related counters, supported by the sharp rise in global energy prices, while utilities stocks emerged as the main laggards amid profit-taking.

“Investor sentiment was also stabilised by the latest policy decision from Bank Negara Malaysia, which kept the Overnight Policy Rate unchanged at 2.75 per cent, reinforcing expectations that domestic monetary policy will remain supportive of economic growth despite rising external uncertainties,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng expects bargain hunting in oversold blue chip stocks to continue providing intermittent support, especially as valuations become more attractive after the recent market correction.

“As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to move within the 1,690-1,720 range towards the weekend,” he added.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index climbed 0.70 per cent to 4,846.56, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.28 per cent to 25,321.34, Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 1.90 per cent to 55,278.06, and South Korea’s KOSPI surged 9.63 per cent to 5,583.90.

Among Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, Maybank gained four sen to RM11.70, Public Bank firmed six sen to RM4.90, CIMB rose by nine sen to RM8.04, RHB Bank was flat at RM8.50, and Hong Leong Bank shed eight sen to RM22.98.

On the most active list, Zetrix AI gained one sen to 78 sen, Hengyuan Refining Company was five sen higher at RM1.59, GDB inched up half-a-sen to 37.5 sen, Tanco and Velesto were flat at RM1.53 and 32 sen, respectively, while AirAsia X fell 26 sen to RM1.42.

Top gainers included Nestle which jumped RM1.10 to RM108.10, Malaysian Pacific Industries bagged 54 sen to RM31.04, Press Metal soared 25 sen to RM7.65, and Malayan Cement increased 21 sen to RM8.33.

As for the top losers, Fraser & Neave tumbled 90 sen to RM33, Hong Leong Financial Group slid 42 sen to RM20.84, while Kelington and United Plantations slipped 20 sen each to RM4.91 and RM30.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased by 82.86 points to 12,517.33, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 88.22 points to 12,354.89, the FBM Emas Shariah Index put on 85.50 points to 12,173.74, the FBM 70 Index added 33.22 points to 17,187.48, and the FBM ACE Index declined by 9.36 points to 4,496.46.

By sector, the Financial Services Index increased 83.99 points to 20,852.77, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 2.44 points to 174.16, the Energy Index slid 1.67 points to 784.94, and the Plantation Index rose 48.24 points to 8,186.90.

The Main Market volume fell to 1.82 billion units valued at RM3.05 billion from Wednesday’s 2.20 billion units valued at RM3.54 billion.

Warrants turnover tumbled to 731.61 million units worth RM100.29 million from 922.48 million units worth RM125.75 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume slipped to 290.47 million units valued at RM104.73 million from 377.39 million units valued at RM126.46 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 370.22 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (245.44 million), construction (137.37 million), technology (200.85 million), financial services (122.70 million), property (196.37 million), plantation (23.58 million), real estate investment trusts (256.81 million), closed-end fund (78,600), energy (295.66 million), healthcare (81.42 million), telecommunications and media (50.07 million), transportation and logistics (41.51 million), utilities (36.27 million), and business trusts (463,900). — Bernama