KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — Bursa Malaysia closed higher today, with the key index ending at its intraday high on the back of foreign buying support particularly in the heavyweights, despite a gloomy external environment.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 11.03 points to 1,462.03 from 1,451.00 at yesterday’s close.

The barometer index opened 0.70 of-a-point lower at 1,450.3 and hit a low of 1,446.71 in the morning session. The momentum, however, reversed during mid-afternoon and continued building up thereafter.

On the broader market, gainers beat losers 430 to 417, while 449 counters were unchanged, 994 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 3.17 billion units worth RM2.19 billion from 3.17 billion units worth RM1.71 billion yesterday, reflecting the domination of heavyweights in today's trading.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices ended mixed today as investors are wary about the United States banking system, which triggered a decline on Wall Street after Moody's credit rating downgrade on various regional banks.

Moody's highlighted concerns about deposit risks, the possibility of an economic downturn and the challenges faced by commercial real estate portfolios.

On the other hand, China’s consumer price index fell for the first time in over two years, posting a 0.3 per cent year-on-year drop in July but rose 0.2 per cent on a monthly basis.

"The FBM KLCI continued to trend higher thanks to persistent support from foreign buying.

"Despite the cautious market undertone globally, we expect buying of local equities to continue due to the cheap valuations of local stocks and continuous support by foreign funds,” he told Bernama

He said Rakuten Trade anticipated the key index to trend slightly higher within the 1,455 and 1,470 range for the remainder of the week.

"After breaking the 1,460 resistance, we shall see the next resistance at 1,490, with support at 1,440,” he added.

All banking index-linked stocks on Bursa showed bullish performances, with Hong Leong Bank gaining 40 sen to RM20.10, Public Bank, Maybank and RHB Bank increasing three sen each to RM4.17, RM9.00 and RM5.71, CIMB bagged five sen to RM5.65 while Hong Leong Financial soared 12 sen to RM18.78.

As for other heavyweights, CelcomDigi climbed 15 sen or 3.5 per cent to RM4.44, Tenaga Nasional bagged four sen to RM9.64, Petronas Chemicals gained two sen to RM6.85, IHH Healthcare added one sen to RM5.94.

Among the actives, Classita shed 1.5 sen to 10 sen, Handal Energy added two sen to 26.5 sen, Sapura Energy was flat at 5.5 sen, Top Glove slipped half-a-sen to 88 sen, while UEM Sunrise inched up half-a-sen to 52.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 64.59 points to 10,719.7, the FBMT 100 Index increased 67.8 points to 10,415.66, the FBM Emas Shariah Index garnered 60.63 points to 10,943.79, the FBM ACE Index swelled 22.08 points to 5,315.76 and the FBM 70 Index grew 45.49 points to 13,998.26.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 110.8 points to 16,357.19, the Industrial Products Services Index added 0.39 of-a-point to 167.09, the Plantation Index improved 26.52 points to 7,169.84, while the Energy Index slid 4.12 points to 825.69.

The Main Market volume decreased to 2.34 billion units valued at RM1.94 billion, from 3.17 billion units valued at RM1.71 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover narrowed to 323.38 million units worth RM48.07 million versus yesterday’s 430.44 million units worth RM68.45 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume contracted to 500.74 million shares valued at RM198.31 million, compared with 602.48 million shares valued at RM199.96 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 710.33 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (309.08 million); construction (83.39 million); technology (116.57 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (92.39 million); property (265.91 million); plantation (32.28 million); REITs (11.86 million), closed/fund (9,300); energy (443.53 million); healthcare (140.99 million); telecommunications and media (31.77 million); transportation and logistics (25.25 million); and utilities (71.71 million). — Bernama