KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Bursa Malaysia recouped early losses to close at its intraday high on Friday, with the key index advancing 0.95 per cent on strong buying interest, mainly driven by selected heavyweights in financial services as well as industrial products and services counters.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 15.05 points to 1,602.41 from 1,587.36 at Thursday’s close.

The index opened 0.93 of-a-point higher at 1,588.29 earlier and hit a low of 1,582.09 in the morning session.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 554 to 406, with 419 counters unchanged, 857 untraded, and 35 others suspended.

Total turnover increased to 3.13 billion units worth RM2.16 billion from 2.86 billion units worth RM2.36 billion yesterday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the reopening of the international borders beginning today after two years due to Covid-19 pandemic provided a boost to the country’s economy and prospects of recovery in some sectors.

"Regionally, the key indices closed mostly higher on bargain hunting.

"On the domestic front, we believe the overall sentiment remains cautious due to lack of catalysts,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.19 per cent to 22,039.55, Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.31 per cent to 3,419.11, China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange increased 0.94 per cent to 3,282.72, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.65 per cent to 2,739.85, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.56 per cent to 27,665.98.

Back home, Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM8.98, Public Bank advanced 11 sen to RM4.78, Petronas Chemicals improved 17 sen to RM9.77, IHH Healthcare bagged five sen to RM6.25, while CIMB was flat at RM5.33.

Of the actives, ACE Market debutant Pappajack increased 9.5 sen to 39.5 sen, KNM Group rose 2.5 sen to 18 sen, TWL Holdings gained one sen to eight sen, Hextar Industries perked up three sen to 34.5 sen, while Metronic Global was flat at two sen.

On the index board, the FBM 70 advanced 19.38 points to 13,872.85, FBMT 100 Index climbed 83.89 points to 11,150.00, FBM Emas Index bagged 84.33 points to 11,471.65, FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 90.50 points to 12,033.85, while FBM ACE advanced 67.06 points to 5,685.88.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.91 of-a-point to 206.35, the Plantation Index trimmed 4.22 points to 7,948.76, while the Financial Services Index improved 130.27 points to 16,908.86.

The Main Market volume fell to 1.92 billion shares worth RM1.83 billion compared with 2.08 billion shares worth RM2.20 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover rose to 440.92 million units valued at RM69.88 million against 359.59 million units valued at RM58.62 million.

The ACE Market volume expanded to 762.11 million shares worth RM253.87 million versus 404.61 million shares worth RM101.83 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 324.17 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (580.01 billion), construction (83.26 million), technology (157.66 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (73.27 million), property (224.10 million), plantation (54.33 million), REITs (6.69 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (181.08 million), healthcare (161.56 million), telecommunications and media (39.41 million), transportation and logistics (15.30 million), and utilities (18.70 million). — Bernama