KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 — Bursa Malaysia has snapped its four-day losing streak to end in the green, supported by bargain hunting in selected heavyweight stocks, said a dealer.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 9.58 points to 1,461.10 from yesterday’s close of 1,451.52.

The benchmark index opened 2.90 points better at 1,454.42, subsequently moving between 1,454.42 and 1,465.58 throughout the day.

On the broader market, advancers led decliners 414 to 385, while 428 counters were unchanged, 1,139 untraded and nine others suspended.

Total turnover fell to 2.12 billion units worth RM1.65 billion compared with 2.19 billion units worth RM1.76 billion yesterday.

A dealer said the local bourse maintained its positive note throughout the day, buoyed by bargain hunting in selected heavyweights, led by the financial services and telecommunications and media stocks.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said the positive momentum on the local bourse was in tandem with regional peers’ uptrend, tracking the late rally on Wall Street.

"However, sentiments have been jittery ahead of the United States (US) Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision tomorrow, on whether the central bank’s plans to cool the hottest US inflation in four decades might be too aggressive and throw the economy into a recession.

"Back home, we reckon the short-term outlook would remain volatile due to uncertainties in global markets,” he said to Bernama, adding that the FBM KLCI is expected to trend sideways within the range of between 1,450 and 1,470 for the rest of the week.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.44 per cent to 27,688.42, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 1.16 per cent to 18,781.42, Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.31 per cent to 3,266.48, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.52 per cent to 2,367.85 and Shanghai’s SSE index perked by 0.22 per cent to 3,122.41.

Back home, Bursa heavyweights Maybank gained seven sen to RM8.70, Petronas Chemicals rose 11 sen to RM8.70 and CIMB Bank advanced six sen to RM5.48, while IHH Healthcare eased two sen to RM6.14 and Public Bank was flat at RM4.49.

Of the actives, Borneo Oil edged up half-a-sen to three sen, SNS Networks eased 2.5 sen to 27 sen, while Top Glove, Velesto and Metronic were flat at 70.5 sen, 11.5 sen and two sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went up 62.66 points to 10,423.90, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 63.30 points to 10,166.75, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased by 69.96 points to 10,521.43, the FBM 70 advanced 65.26 points to 12,649.15 and the FBM ACE expanded 47.90 points to 4,807.30.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 84.07 points to 16,453.69, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.95 of-a-point to 178.99 and the Plantation Index added 33.61 points to 6,907.54, while the Energy Index was 3.29 points easier at 720.19.

The Main Market volume increased to 1.42 billion shares worth RM1.42 billion from 1.40 billion shares worth RM1.55 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover shrank to 232.78 million units valued at RM31.46 million from 242.78 million units valued at RM26.69 million previously.

The ACE Market volume declined to 457.46 million shares worth RM192.08 million from 536.45 million shares worth RM184.92 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 182.17 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (463.25 million), construction (34.57 million), technology (88.31 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (60.92 million), property (111.04 million), plantation (15.44 million), REITs (25.96 million), closed/fund (2,000), energy (183.65 million), healthcare (164.58 million), telecommunications and media (20.77 million), transportation and logistics (61.41 million) and utilities (9.98 million). — Bernama