KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — Bursa Malaysia continued its upbeat momentum for the fourth consecutive trading day, with the key index gaining 1.05 per cent, lifted by buying in banking stocks.

Public Bank and CIMB jumped 14 sen each to RM4.34 and RM5.39, respectively. The counters contributed a combined 7.05 points to the gains in the market bellwether.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) surged 14.74 points to finish at an intraday high of 1,415.10 from Tuesday’s close of 1,400.36.

The FBM KLCI opened 2.32 points higher at 1,402.68, but thereafter hit an intraday low of 1,400.28, before picking up steam throughout the day to close higher.

On the broader market, gainers slightly outpaced losers 437 to 426, while 382 counters were unchanged, 1,117 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover eased to 2.23 billion units worth RM1.72 billion from Tuesday’s 2.40 billion units worth RM1.71 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said trading in the local market was cautiously optimistic given the improvement in the regional market sentiment, but investors should stay alert due to the increasing market volatility.

“We believe the FBM KLCI will continue its uptrend as valuations remain cheap, and raise our target for the week to the 1,400-1,430 range. The immediate resistance is spotted at 1,430 while support is at 1,400,” he told Bernama.

Among other heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM8.55, Petronas Chemicals advanced eight sen to RM8.63, IHH Healthcare perked up 13 sen to RM6.10 while TNB shed six sen to RM8.14.

Of the actives, UEM Sunrise added one sen to 20 sen, Bintai Kinden climbed half-a-sen to 9.5 sen, Top Glove fell 1.5 sen to 72.5 sen, Hiap Huat eased three sen to 13 sen, Careplus declined two sen to 40.5 sen, and Eduspec slipped half-a-sen to one sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded by 69.07 points to 10,043.97, the FBM 70 narrowed 48.53 points to 11,957.62, and the FBMT 100 Index improved by 68.97 points to 9,790.72.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 10.16 points to 10,044.94 and the FBM ACE slid 28.22 points to 4,724.95.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index soared 284.65 points to 16,177.98, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.59 points to 172.45, the Plantation Index increased 61.45 points to 6,678.12, while the Energy Index fell 7.33 points to 663.44.

The Main Market volume decreased to 1.38 billion shares worth RM1.49 billion from Tuesday’s 1.47 billion shares worth RM1.40 billion.

Warrants turnover narrowed to 292.83 million units worth RM48.01 million from 300.37 million units valued at RM47.67 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume dwindled to 561.51 million shares worth RM175.52 million from 633.53 million shares worth RM260.03 million.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 170.80 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (364.16 million), construction (41.35 million), technology (170.40 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (67.95 million), property (177.52 million), plantation (46.47 million), REITs (7.08 million), closed/fund (2,000), energy (88.62 million), healthcare (186.75 million), telecommunications and media (21.06 million), transportation and logistics (25.62 million), and utilities (11.79 million). — Bernama