KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Bursa Malaysia ended the week in positive territory after late buying in selected plantation heavyweights lifted the benchmark index by 0.78 per cent on renewed buying interest despite the volatile markets across the region.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 11.41 points to 1,478.54 from yesterday’s closing of 1,467.13.

The barometer index opened 5.37 points lower at 1,461.76 and went down to 1,459.31 in the morning session before climbing up to its intraday high of 1,478.54 in the final hours of trading.

However, on the broader market, decliners edged advancers 488 versus 409, while 414 counters were unchanged, 963 untraded, and 48 others suspended.

Turnover improved to 3.33 billion units worth RM2.24 billion versus 2.54 billion units worth RM1.91 billion yesterday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices ended mostly in a downbeat mode following broadly negative cues from global markets overnight.

“Back home, the local bourse was traded in a muted mode throughout the day as investors seemed reluctant to make more significant moves due to the absence of catalysts,” he said.

Among the Bursa heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM8.72, Public Bank stayed flat at RM4.38, Petronas Chemicals rose five sen to RM8.51, CIMB earned three sen to RM5.78, Sime Darby Plantation jumped 42 sen to RM4.77, while TNB lost six sen to RM9.15.

Among the actives, Advance Synergy ticked up three sen to 22 sen, Borneo Oil and Malayan United Industries were unchanged at 2.5 sen and 8.5 sen respectively, DNeX added half-a-sen to 52.5 sen, and Sapura Energy was down half-a-sen to four sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index appreciated by 56.31 points to 10,607.21, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 61.38 points to 10,312.29, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 78.64 points higher at 10,748.42.

The FBM 70 Index earned 3.99 points to 12,926.66 while the FBM ACE Index eased 9.65 points to 5,461.94.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index strengthened by 28.0 points to 16,563.50, the Plantation Index surged 333.52 points to 7,037.93, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.24 of-a-point to 181.26, while the Energy Index gave up 3.29 points to 791.31.

The Main Market volume rose to 2.29 billion shares worth RM1.91 billion against 1.57 billion shares worth RM1.55 yesterday.

Warrants turnover increased to 306.58 million units valued at RM72.03 million versus 283.83 million units valued at RM59.64 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume improved to 730.46 million shares worth RM258.38 million compared to 676.83 million shares worth RM299.49 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 633.47 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (685.27 million); construction (54.55 million); technology (285.56 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (79.61 million); property (76.73 million); plantation (34.64 million); REITs (4.74 million), closed/fund (5,100); energy (204.34 million); healthcare (107.02 million); telecommunications and media (68.02 million); transportation and logistics (37.33 million); and utilities (18.80 million). — Bernama