KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Bursa Malaysia snapped its losing streak to close the day on a firm note in tandem with gains seen in regional peers, thanks to persistent buying momentum in index-linked counters and small capitalisation stocks amid positive regional sentiment, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 15.63 points or 1.153 per cent to 1,371.66 from 1,356.03 at Monday’s close.

The key index, which opened 4.98 points higher at 1,361.01 this morning, fluctuated between 1,357.83 and 1,373.8 throughout the day.

Petronas Chemicals contributed a substantial 5.097 points to the rise in the composite index after surging 35 sen to RM5.17 with 5.25 million shares changing hands.

Other significant contributors included Maybank, MAHB, CIMB, MISC and Tenaga.

The FBM Small Cap Index surged 312.09 points to 11,154,58.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said despite the bearish mode brought by oil supply cuts, rating downgrade by Fitch Rating on two Malaysian banks and warning of a possible delay in capital expenditure by the oil majors, Bursa managed to stage a better performance today.

He said market sentiment was influenced by trade data from China which saw its exports in March fall by 6.6 per cent year-on-year, way below the 13.9 per cent decline as surveyed by Bloomberg.

For January and February, China’s exports dropped by 17.2 per cent.

“This indicates that the world’s second largest economy may have showed some positive signs in tandem with the flattening of the COVID-19 infection curve.

“This may have supported the market sentiment throughout the day,” he told Bernama.

Mohd Afzanizam, however, said it is still too early to tell whether the positive sentiment can be sustained as markets would continue to observe the extent of Covid-19 infection in the United States and Europe, which has taken a serious toll on their economies.

The overall market breadth on Bursa was bullish with gainers trumping losers 706 to 203, while 296 counters were unchanged, 700 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover decreased to 4.79 billion shares worth RM2.08 billion from 3.12 billion shares worth RM1.51 billion registered yesterday.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose 13 sen to RM7.58, Tenaga bagged 10 sen to RM12.14, CIMB perked seven sen to RM3.57, while Public Bank was flat at RM15.84.

IHH Healthcare trimmed two sen to RM5.09 and Maxis eased five sen to RM5.24.

Of the actives, Lambo and Anzo added one sen each to two sen and 2.5 sen respectively, MCT increased 4.5 sen to 18.5 sen, Vortex inched up half-a-sen to nine sen while Minetech gained two sen to 25 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 130.92 points stronger at 9,488.96, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 125.32 points to 9,383.67, the FBM Emas Shariah Index soared 138.58 points to 10,470.17, the FBM ACE bolstered 261.12 points to 4,272.13 while the FBM 70 advanced 224.87 points to 11,119.5.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 137.6 points to 12,365.78, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 4.03 points to 112.9 and the Plantation Index garnered 41.91 points to 6,246.71.

Main Market volume increased to 2.98 billion shares worth RM1.82 billion from 2.35 billion shares valued at RM1.37 billion recorded yesterday.

Warrants turnover almost doubled to 300.77 million units worth RM59.09 million from 159.46 million units valued at RM22.58 million.

Volume on the ACE Market ballooned to 1.51 billion shares worth RM192.11 million from 610.13 million shares valued at RM113.51 million previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 449.35 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (626.04 million), construction (417.35 million), technology (298.99 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (39.93 million), property (332.78 million), plantations (49.02 million), REITs (15.94 million), closed/fund (6,000), energy (550.68 million), healthcare (32.67 million), telecommunications and media (49.87 million), transportation and logistics (92.97 million), and utilities (22.28 million). — Bernama