KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 — Bursa Malaysia ended the week higher due to positive regional performance, according to an analyst, breaking its four-day losing streak.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.02 points to 1,450.23 from Thursday’s close of 1,448.21.

The index opened 2.33 points weaker at 1,445.88 and moved between 1,441.50 and 1,450.69 throughout the day.

The broader market was positive, with advancers leading decliners 504 to 403, while 472 counters were unchanged, 1,012 untraded, and 49 others suspended.

Turnover declined to 3.13 billion units worth RM2.08 billion from 3.25 billion units worth RM2.13 billion on Thursday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI finished marginally higher due to late buying, particularly on telecommunication, plantation, and energy stocks.

He said key regional indices trended higher today despite the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hawkish tone on the interest rate trajectory.

"We believe this is due to bargain hunting activities following a few days of sell-down. Furthermore, the Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged after its latest meeting today,” he told Bernama.

Thong cautioned that prolonged high US interest rates would cause uncertainty and volatility in regional markets.

At the close, Bursa heavyweight counters Maybank was down by two sen to RM8.88, Public Bank lost one sen to RM4.20, Petronas Chemicals gained four sen to RM7.35, TNB expanded 10 sen to RM10.16, while CIMB was flat at RM5.59.

Of the actives, KNM Group edged up half-a-sen to 12.5 sen, Ekovest added 2.5 sen to 59 sen, UEM Sunrise advanced three sen to 91 sen, Eastern & Oriental advanced 6.5 sen to 71.5 sen and Mercury Securities declined half-a-sen to 29.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index recovered 20.26 points to 10,746.90, the FBMT 100 Index was 16.18 points firmer at 10,408.19, the FBM 70 Index inched up 29.52 points to 14,317.08 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index put on 35.36 points to 11,007.83.

Meanwhile, the FBM ACE Index dropped 5.08 points to 5,209.06.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index went up 2.12 points to 6,927.22, the Energy Index leapt 15.03 points to 906.92 and the Industrial Products Services Index edged up 0.42 of a point to 174.83.

Meanwhile, the Financial Services Index reduced 7.34 points to 16,220.63.

Main Market volume fell to 2.08 billion units worth RM1.82 billion from 2.14 billion units worth RM1.90 billion on Thursday.

Warrant turnover widened to 464.54 million units valued at RM69.35 million against 379.14 million units valued at RM48.82 million previously.

The ACE Market volume slipped to 585.50 million shares worth RM185.53 million from 690.76 million shares worth RM182.43 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 287.45 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (345.51 million); construction (193.33 million); technology (131.33 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (46.10 million); property (540.94 million); plantation (30.63 million); REITs (6.38 million), closed/fund (18,200); energy (308.52 million); healthcare (54.50 million); telecommunications and media (29.31 million); transportation and logistics (51.78 million) and utilities (50.60 million). — Bernama