KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Bursa Malaysia ended higher on the last trading day of the week amid strong buying interests across the regional markets.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 7.10 points to finish the day at 1,425.79 from yesterday’s close of 1,418.69.

The benchmark index opened 2.57 points firmer at 1,421.26 and moved between 1,420.63 and 1,427.20 throughout the day.

The overall market breadth was positive as gainers outnumbered losers 445 to 343, while 425 counters were unchanged, 1,027 untraded and eight others suspended.

Total turnover decreased to 1.62 billion units valued at RM1.12 billion from Thursday’s closing of 1.94 billion units valued at RM1.45 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices trended broadly higher following a rally in the United States market, sparked by hopes that policymakers can tackle inflation without causing a recession.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.10 per cent to 26,517.19, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 0.30 per cent to 21,725.78 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.10 per cent to 3,126.35.

The market was also bolstered by the possibility of a major stimulus in China as well as hopes that policymakers can get inflation under control without causing a global economic downturn, he added.

"Back home, we reckon that the FBM KLCI remained in an oversold position despite the rebound, hence we expect the uptrend to continue next week.

"As such we expect the FBM KLCI to trade within the 1420-1,450 range, with immediate resistance at 1,400 and support at 1,450,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank increased four sen each to RM8.62 and RM4.40, respectively, Petronas Chemicals jumped 13 sen to RM8.47, IHH Healthcare gained three sen to RM6.36, CIMB rose five sen to RM5.14 and TNB shed four sen to RM7.92.

Of the actives, both Metronic and Widad edged up half-a-sen each to 9.5 sen and 37 sen, respectively, while Yong Tai was flat at eight sen and Top Glove fell two sen to 99 sen.

On the index board, FBM Emas Index bagged 44.4 points to 10,132.53, FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 41.35 points to 10,193.92, FBM 70 went up 34.28 points to 12,196.31, FBM ACE increased 63.81 points to 4,667.81 and the FBMT 100 Index put on 44.25 points to 9,893.08.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 79.87 points higher at 16,077.12, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.03 points to 172.83, and the Plantation Index jumped 46.39 points to 6,634.86.

The Main Market volume fell to 975.89 million shares worth RM936.0 million from yesterday’s 1.24 billion shares worth RM1.31 billion.

Warrants turnover went down to 387.31 million units worth RM91.20 million against 468.15 million units worth RM77.60 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume increased to 252.58 million shares worth RM90.26 million from 240.47 million shares worth RM61.11 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 128.71 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (275.25 million), construction (34.57 million), technology (99.21 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (31.80 million), property (121.90 million), plantation (38.47 million), REITs (1.99 million), closed/fund (1,300), energy (136.07 million), healthcare (67.30 million), telecommunications and media (21.15 million), transportation and logistics (13.61 million), and utilities (5.84 million). — Bernama