KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Bursa Malaysia recouped earlier losses to close marginally higher today, lifted by late buying in utilities and technology counters, in line with the upbeat performance in most regional bourses.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 0.50 of-a-point to close at 1,402.98 compared with 1,402.48 at Thursday's close.

The barometer index opened 0.45 of-a-point firmer at 1,402.93 this morning and moved between 1,397.98 and 1,405.45 throughout the day.

However, the broader market remained negative with decliners beating advancers 433 to 403, while 398 counters were unchanged, 1,042 untraded and 26 others suspended.

Turnover rose to 2.44 billion units worth RM2.28 billion from 2.36 billion units worth RM1.63 billion on Thursday.

Inari Amertron and Tenaga Nasional were the top two contributors to the gains in the benchmark index, rising 21.0 sen and 11.0 sen to RM2.47 and RM9.69, respectively, for a combined 2.33 points.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed flattish after a bumpy session, but the benchmark index managed to end in positive territory with buying in selected heavyweights.

"The key regional indices trended mostly higher as investors expect the possibility that the United States Congress could come to an agreement regarding the US government debt, which would prevent a potentially disastrous default,” he told Bernama.

Among other heavyweights, Maybank increased 2.0 sen to RM8.58, Public Bank added 1.0 sen to RM3.90, Petronas Chemicals was down 2.0 sen to RM6.95, CIMB Group slid 6.0 sen to RM4.90, while CelcomDigi was flat at RM4.46.

As for the active counters, YTL Corporation was 5.5 sen higher at 83.5 sen, Bahvest Resources rose 4.0 sen to 22.5 sen, Tanco dipped 5.5 sen to 48.5 sen, SMRT Holdings edged up 5.0 sen to 70.5 sen, while Revenue Group was flat at 26.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 12.03 points to 10,296.44, the FBMT 100 Index rose 12.67 points to 10,002.63, the FBM Emas Shariah Index put on 24.93 points to 10,669.03, the FBM 70 Index went up 54.98 points to 13,480.00, and the FBM ACE Index garnered 36.71 points to 4,980.90.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.06 of-a-point to 164.08, the Plantation Index slipped 50.49 points to 6,755.26, the Energy Index lost 10.45 points to 808.31, and the Financial Services Index decreased 14.00 points to 15,304.43.

The Main Market volume swelled to 1.70 billion units valued at RM2.05 billion from 1.47 billion units valued at RM1.40 billion on Thursday.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 210.10 million units worth RM23.01 million against 332.16 million units worth RM46.03 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume declined to 535.86 million shares valued at RM206.90 million from 553.75 million shares valued at RM178.96 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 312.51 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (269.09 million); construction (45.93 million); technology (255.05 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (74.31 million); property (207.27 million); plantation (22.90 million); REITs (14.41 million), closed/fund (6,000); energy (115.46 million); healthcare (96.23 million); telecommunications and media (37.90 million); transportation and logistics (72.98 million); and utilities (170.99 million). — Bernama