KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — Bursa Malaysia recouped earlier losses to close higher Wednesday amid a mixed regional market performance ahead of the US interest rate hike decision later tonight.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.81 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 1,385.42 compared with 1,380.61 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 1.09 points firmer at 1,381.70 this morning and moved between 1,381.49 and 1,386.79 throughout the session.

The market breadth was positive as gainers beat decliners 444 to 343, while 515 counters were unchanged, 953 untraded, and 13 others suspended.

Turnover decreased to 2.86 billion units worth RM1.75 billion versus 3.08 billion units worth RM1.97 billion on Tuesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said investors’ attention was primarily focused on the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, wherein they anticipated a halt in interest rate hike after a series of ten consecutive hikes.

"Additionally, market sentiment was boosted by the easing tension between the US and China and supportive monetary policy from central banks in China and Japan.

"We maintain our cautiously optimistic view due to the aforementioned reasons. We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1380-1395 for the rest of the week,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals dipped two sen each to RM8.60 and RM6.40, Public Bank rose one sen to RM3.82, Tenaga Nasional improved six sen to RM9.20, while CIMB was flat at RM4.99.

Of the actives, Sarawak Consolidated perked up 1.5 sen to 38.5 sen, MyEG ticked up two sen to 86 sen, Bahvest Resources was 2.5 sen firmer to 26.5 sen, while XOX and Classita were flat at 1.5 sen and 10.5 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 47.25 points to 10,244.25, the FBMT 100 Index increased 46.39 points to 9,939.16 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index put on 79.66 points to 10,617.27.

The FBM ACE Index climbed 52.47 points to 5,199.00 and the FBM 70 Index surged 112.63 points to 13,650.30.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.32 points to 160.07, the Plantation Index slipped 11.13 points to 6,707.11, the Financial Services Index declined 15.25 points to 15,184.14, while the Energy Index added 6.77 points to 787.43.

The Main Market volume slid to 1.83 billion units valued at RM1.51 billion from 1.95 billion units valued at RM1.68 billion on Tuesday.

Warrants turnover declined to 279.54 million units worth RM44.73 million against 377.22 million units worth RM56.52 million previously.

The ACE Market volume narrowed to 746.61 million shares valued at RM201.37 million from 750.12 million shares valued at RM227.64 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 313.19 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (627.58 million); construction (68.83 million); technology (283.48 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (60.68 million); property (163.60 million); plantation (33.01 million); REITs (7.13 million), closed/fund (128,000); energy (84.24 million); healthcare (38.63 million); telecommunications and media (39.87 million); transportation and logistics (69.80 million); and utilities (43.33 million). — Bernama