“Nevertheless, gains in the local bourse were kept to a minimum, owing to the extended weakness in selected Petronas-related and banking heavyweights,” said Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng pointed out that key regional indices also ended mostly higher on optimism over a potential economic stimulus in China.
Additionally, he said investors are leaning toward bets that the US Federal Reserve is likely to abstain from raising interest rates next week, lifting the regional sentiment.
Bursa Malaysia snapped a two-day losing streak to close slightly higher today, in tandem with the uptrend in regional bourses.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was marginally higher by 1.44 points, or 0.11% to 1,376.08 from 1,374.64 at yesterday’s close.
The key index opened 0.94 of-a-point higher at 1,375.58 this morning and moved between 1,373.08 and 1,381.26 throughout the session.
The market breadth was positive as gainers led decliners 489 to 341, while 445 counters were unchanged, 968 untraded, and 21 others suspended.
Turnover widened to 3.34 billion units worth RM1.49 billion versus 2.68 billion units worth RM1.61 billion yesterday.
Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank added 2 sen to RM8.62, Public Bank gained 1 sen to RM3.82 and Tenaga Nasional gained 6 sen to RM9.18. CIMB Bank earned 5 sen to RM4.95 while Petronas Chemicals dropped 2 sen to RM6.40.
Of the actives, XOX, Borneo Oil, Sapura Energy, and Parlo were all flat at 1.5 sen, 1.5 sen, 3.5 sen, and 12.5 sen, respectively. Sarawak Consolidated added 2 sen to 30 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index inched up 27.70 points to 10,151.98, the FBMT 100 Index was 23.42 points firmer at 9,849.87 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 31.83 points to 10,482.06.
The FBM ACE Index climbed 79.69 points to 5,050.83, and FBM 70 Index was 86.06 points stronger at 13,435.83.
Sector-wise, the industrial products and services index edged up 0.23 of-a-point to 157.91, the plantation index gained 41.64 points to 6,686.64 and the energy index advanced 12.49 points to 791.30.
The financial services index ticked up 20.43 points to 15,139.96.
The Main Market volume advanced to 2.06 billion units valued at RM1.26 billion from 1.74 billion units valued at RM1.37 billion on Thursday.
Warrants turnover recovered to 351.56 million units worth RM49.99 million against 294.33 million units worth RM43.74 million previously.
The ACE Market volume ballooned to 933.33 million shares valued at RM176.55 million from 646.14 million shares valued at RM202.85 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 390.03 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (726.77 million); construction (68.76 million); technology (137.69 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (43.88 million); property (188.03 million); plantation (51.96 million); REITs (4.45 million), closed/fund (4,000); energy (274.99 million); healthcare (48.50 million); telecommunications and media (36.09 million); transportation and logistics (36.57 million); and utilities (51.22 million).