KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — Bursa Malaysia snapped a four-day losing streak to end higher today, supported by buying demand in selected financial services and plantation counters amid cautious sentiment on regional bourses, dealers said.

Public Bank and IOI Corp were the top two gainers, rising 5.0 sen to RM4.55 and 12.0 sen to RM4.24, respectively, and contributing a total of 2.97 points to the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI’s (FBM KLCI) gains.

At 5 pm, the benchmark index rose 4.26 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 1,535.56 from Tuesday’s close of 1,531.30, after hovering between 1,531.22 and 1,538.82 throughout the day.

The FBM KLCI opened 0.47 of-a-point higher at 1,531.77.

However, market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing advancers 586 to 310, while 437 counters were unchanged, 976 untraded, and 24 others suspended.

Total turnover fell to 2.34 billion units worth RM1.80 billion from 3.60 billion units worth RM2.09 billion on Tuesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said regional markets showed a mixed trend as market sentiment was impacted by US central bankers backing two more big interest rate hikes as early as in June and July to fight 40-year-high inflation while investors were taking wait-and-see approach to assess the real impact.

"On the domestic front, the FBM KLCI saw some bargain-hunting. However, buying interest was still weak amid the global uncertainty and increased market risks. We expect investor sentiment to remain jittery. Nonetheless, we reckon accumulation of stocks to persist on dips.

"Hence, we foresee the FBM KLCI remaining in consolidation mode and hovering within the 1,525-1,545 range for the remainder of the week. Technically speaking, we spot the immediate support at 1,520 and resistance at 1,560,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.16 per cent to 3,189.81, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.26 per cent to 26,677.80, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.29 per cent to 20,171.27, South Korea’s KOSPI increased 0.44 per cent to 2,617.22, and China's SSE Composite Index gained 1.19 per cent to 3,107.46.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM8.96 and RM4.95, respectively, Tenaga Nasional improved 5.0 sen to RM9.19, and Petronas Chemicals fell 3.0 sen to RM9.93.

Of the actives, Cypark Resources dropped 12 sen to 38 sen and Hibiscus Petroleum slipped 6.0 sen to RM1.37, while MNC Wireless and Serba Dinamik were unchanged at 1.5 sen and 10 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM ACE decreased 0.52 of-a-point to 5,190.92, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 18.04 points to 11,332.92, the FBM Emas Index eased 0.83 of-a-point to 10,949.45, the FBMT 100 Index added 11.01 points to 10,633.15, and the FBM 70 trimmed 62.09 points to 13,019.48.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.14 point lower at 197.46, the Plantation Index went up 73.31 points to 8,068.24, and the Financial Services Index increased 21.16 points to 16,495.73.

The Main Market volume decreased to 1.60 billion shares worth RM1.65 billion from 2.31 billion shares worth RM1.85 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover increased to 290.37 million units valued at RM59.90 million versus 372.80 million units valued at RM74.44 million previously.

The ACE Market volume shrank by half to 454.77 million shares worth RM98.44 million from 912.11 million shares worth RM168.80 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 205.42 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (420.25 million), construction (80.37 million), technology (124.26 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (49.20 million), property (157.64 million), plantation (38.52 million), REITs (5.54 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (404.50 million), healthcare (30.30 million), telecommunications and media (42.92 million), transportation and logistics (29.43 million), and utilities (13.58 million). — Bernama