KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 —Bursa Malaysia continued last week’s positive performance, led by bargain hunting in banking stocks as Budget 2027 offered additional support through measures targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) lending, housing financing and investment-driven credit growth.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 9.56 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 1,618.01 from  Friday’s close of 1,608.45.

The benchmark index, which opened 3.34 points higher at 1,611.03, moved between 1,608.91 and 1,619.30 throughout the session.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 778 to 344, while 520 counters were unchanged, 1,185 untraded and 12 suspended.

Turnover was marginally higher at 3.36 billion units worth RM2.91 billion, compared with 3.33 billion units worth RM2.90 billion on Friday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that markets are cautiously optimistic as the presentation of Budget 2027 has provided greater policy clarity, reducing uncertainty and allowing investors to better assess the outlook for individual sectors.

He said that while the budget’s benefits may take time to materialise, its emphasis on domestic consumption, infrastructure and investment should support market sentiment.

“Looking ahead, we expect selective bargain hunting to support a gradual market recovery this week, particularly in banking and other fundamentally sound blue chips.

“However, persistent foreign selling, elevated bond yields and geopolitical uncertainties could limit the upside. With Budget 2027 providing a clearer domestic policy direction, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trade within the 1,600-1,630 range this week, with a positive bias,” he said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose 14 sen to RM9.95, Public Bank added nine sen to RM4.66, CIMB was four sen higher to RM7.30 and Tenaga Nasional added 16 sen to RM13.04, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM7.90.

In active trade, Zetrix AI and JAKS Resources eased one sen each to 7.5 sen and 17 sen, VS Industry fell two sen to 32.5 sen and Top Glove decreased three sen to 81.5 sen. Nationgate added 16 sen to RM2.27.

Among the top gainers, Nestle increased by 94 sen to RM91.10, MISC increased 47 sen to RM8.06, Vitrox and MI Technovation went up 24 sen each to RM11.24 and RM7.02, while Hong Leong Financial firmed 16 sen to RM17.46.

The top losers included Malaysian Pacific trimmed RM1.06 to RM43.02, United Plantations lost 48 sen to RM30.22, Genting fell 43 sen to RM1.45, Genting Malaysia shed 26 sen to RM1.23 and YTL Power was 20 sen weaker at RM5.50.

Genting Malaysia’s shares hit limit down, prompting Bursa Malaysia to suspend the intraday short-selling (IDSS) until tomorrow at 8.30 am, as it dropped more than 15 per cent or 15 sen from the reference price.

On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index declined 200.94 points to 17,482.16, the FBM Emas Index advanced 5.87 points to 12,104.70, the FBM Top 100 Index increased 16.44 points to 11,887.85, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 1.29 points to 12,131.07, and the FBM ACE Index slipped 93.87 points to 5,560.70.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 0.02 of a point to 180.77, the Financial Services Index climbed 169.31 points to 18,594.13, the Energy Index edged down 4.41 points to 834.16 and the Plantation Index reduced 78.35 points to 8,811.90.

The Main Market volume increased to 2.01 billion units worth RM2.61 billion from 1.86 billion units worth RM2.54 billion on Friday.

Warrants turnover declined to 878.57 million units worth RM121.03 million from 915.33 million units worth RM137.87 million.

The ACE Market volume narrowed to 470.43 million units valued at RM180.09 million from 556.12 million units valued at RM226.51 million previously.

Meanwhile, consumer products and services counters accounted for 321.34 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (440.59 million), construction (160.31 million), technology (516.09 million), financial services (72.66 million), property (132.80 million), plantation (31.08 million), real estate investment trusts (12.82 million), closed-end fund (33,200), energy (91.99 million), healthcare (111.66 million), telecommunications and media (28.03 million), transportation and logistics (41.65 million), utilities (52.72 million), and business trusts (194,100). — Bernama