KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Bursa Malaysia ended the week on a firmer note, with the FBM KLCI breaking its resistance in the process today, thanks to continuous buying support from local institutions and foreign funds, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 15.48 points, or 1.07 per cent, to 1,465.80 from Thursday’s close of 1,450.32.

The market bellwether, which opened 0.77 of-a-point higher at 1,451.09, moved between 1,450.73 and 1,468.48 throughout the day.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 580 to 278, while 414 counters were unchanged, 1,024 untraded, and eight others suspended.

However, total turnover declined to 2.05 billion units worth RM1.55 billion from 2.13 billion units valued at RM1.38 billion on Thursday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said investor sentiment improved with the return of foreign funds amid positive factors across the region.

He noted that key regional indices mostly trended higher following in sync with the upbeat Wall Street performance overnight.

"We expect the FBM KLCI to continue its uptrend in the near term.

"As such, we anticipate the benchmark index to move within the 1,460 to1,480 range next week, with immediate resistance at 1,500 and support at 1,430," he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Maybank gained 11 sen to RM8.81, Public Bank rose 13 sen to RM4.57, IHH Healthcare improved one sen to RM6.48, CIMB Group added nine sen to RM5.25, while Petronas Chemicals slipped 12 sen to RM8.60.

Of the actives, Bintai Kinden Corporation added half-a-sen to 11 sen, Cypark Resources gained one sen to 36.5 sen, TWL Holdings was 1.5 sen firmer at seven sen, while MY E.G. Services and Top Glove eased half-a-sen each to 77 sen and 99.5 sen, respectively. — Bernama