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KUALA LUMPUR: Bargain-hunting in heavyweight financial services counters lifted Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index from earlier losses to an intraday high, a level not seen in more than six years, even as regional sentiment remained mixed.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Sedek Jantan said the FBM KLCI extended its rally for a fifth consecutive session, as investors continued deploying capital despite elevated geopolitical noise.
“The persistence of buying interest reflects confidence in Malaysia’s earnings and macroeconomic backdrop, reinforced by foreign investors recording four consecutive days of net inflows from Jan 9 to 14.
“This pattern indicates that Malaysia is increasingly being treated as a core allocation rather than a tactical trade,” he told Bernama.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 4.25 points, or 0.25%, to 1,715.16 from yesterday’s close of 1,710.91. The index surpassed its previous peak of 1,713.45 recorded on Feb 27, 2019.
The market barometer opened 0.56 of-a-point lower at 1,710.35 and slipped to an intraday low of 1,701.83 in early trade before edging higher throughout the day towards the close.
Market breadth was negative, with decliners leading gainers 583 to 503, while 562 counters were unchanged, 990 untraded, and 21 suspended.
Turnover climbed to 3.25 billion units worth RM3.32 billion from yesterday’s 3.11 billion units worth RM3.19 billion.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose six sen to RM11.10, Public Bank put on eight sen to RM4.75, CIMB and Tenaga Nasional advanced 10 sen each to RM8.45 and RM13.92, respectively, while IHH was two sen lower at RM8.43.
On the most active list, VS Industry and Zetrix AI inched down 0.5 sen to 48 sen and 82.5 sen, respectively, Capital A lost 1.5 sen to 53 sen, and Northeast Group tumbled 11.5 sen to 59.5 sen, while Tanco bagged one sen to RM1.24.
Among the top gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries climbed 90 sen to RM33.70, Hong Leong Bank rose 52 sen to RM24, Westports jumped 48 sen to RM6.12, Hong Leong Financial firmed 40 sen to RM20.82, and Mi Technovation added 19 sen to RM3.39.
For the top decliners, Nestle dropped RM2.50 to RM116, United Plantations decreased 52 sen to RM32.98, Fraser &amp; Neave dipped 36 sen to RM36, Petronas Dagangan slid 30 sen to RM20.70, and Batu Kawan trimmed 26 sen to RM20.02.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 30.17 points to 12,656.64, the FBM Top 100 Index rose 36.27 points to 12,450.02, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 20.52 points to 12,327.06.
The FBM Mid 70 Index garnered 76.03 points to 17,685.55 but the FBM ACE Index slumped 19.99 points to 4,965.96.
Sector-wise, the financial services index jumped 220.18 points to 20,704.28, the energy index shed 3.19 points to 786.43, the industrial products and services index eased 0.10 of-a-point to 174.73, and the plantation index sank 79.67 points to 8,449.03.
The Main Market volume was marginally lower at 1.71 billion units worth RM2.98 billion from yesterday’s 1.76 billion units worth RM2.92 billion.
Warrants turnover expanded to 1.12 billion units worth RM168.64 million from 846.9 million units worth RM114.84 million previously.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 411.93 million units worth RM168.62 million from 501.47 million units worth RM156.13 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 275.54 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (301.12 million), construction (155.19 million), technology (293.79 million), financial services (141.59 million), property (190.43 million), plantation (41.48 million), real estate investment trusts (19.95 million), closed-end funds (82,000), energy (93.18 million), healthcare (99.27 million), telecommunications and media (26.41 million), transportation and logistics (41.42 million), utilities (32.60 million), and business trusts (93,900).

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