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KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia picked up momentum in the final hour of trading to close marginally higher, driven by bargain-hunting in energy and telecommunications stocks during the late session, said an analyst.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the local market mirrored the upbeat key regional bourses on speculation that the US and Chinese leaders may reconnect this week to restart trade negotiations.
White House officials said President Donald Trump would speak with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, this week.
As for the local bourse, Thong said lingering concerns over trade tensions and their impact on the global economy were causing investors to remain cautious.
“We are hopeful that the negotiations between the US and China will ease tensions and boost sentiment among local investors.
“For the moment, we maintain our weekly FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) target at between 1,490 and 1,520 pending the emergence of fresh catalysts,” Thong told Bernama.
Meanwhile, UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd head of investment research Sedek Jantan said sentiment remained cautious following the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) latest report, which downgraded its 2025 US gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast from 2.2% to 1.6%, citing policy uncertainty and the adverse impact of Trump’s renewed tariff measures.
This includes a proclamation doubling US tariffs on steel and aluminium to 50%, effective immediately, adding fresh pressure on global markets.
Sedek said that despite the modest rebound in the benchmark index, broader market sentiment remained cautious.
“Trading activity was subdued, with total volume easing to 2.4 billion shares, down from 3 billion the previous day, signalling continued investor caution amid persistent global and domestic headwinds,” he said.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 4.72 points, or 0.31%, to its intraday high of 1,507.97 from yesterday’s close of 1,503.25.
The index thus ended its six-day losing streak to end in positive territory.
The benchmark index opened 3.85 points higher at 1,507.10 and thereafter slipped to a low of 1,501.11 in early trade, experiencing choppy trading in the afternoon session before trending upwards towards closing.
Market breadth was, however, slightly negative as decliners outpaced gainers 494 to 442, while 450 counters were unchanged, 953 untraded and 18 suspended.
Turnover slid to 2.40 billion units worth RM2.03 billion compared with yesterday’s 3.04 billion units valued at RM2.20 billion.
On the local bourse, heavyweights Petronas Dagangan jumped 96 sen to RM20.96, YTL Corporation perked up eight sen to RM1.88, and CelcomDigi rose 14 sen to RM3.92.
YTL Power International and Maxis added nine sen each to RM3.29 and RM3.65, respectively.
As for active stocks, TWL added 0.5 sen to 2.5 sen, Tanco eased 1.5 sen to 98.5 sen, Gamuda garnered seven sen to RM4.66, NationGate slid three sen to RM1.43, and XOX Networks slipped 0.5 sen to one sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 28.62 points to 11,283.07, the FBMT 100 Index increased 30.22 points to 11,052.94, while the FBM ACE Index decreased 2.16 points to 4,479.65.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 31.5 points to 11,241.65 and the FBM 70 Index added 26.83 points to 16,168.99.
Sector-wise, the financial services index eased 4.78 points to 17,757.85, the plantation index declined 15.21 points to 7,203.67, while the industrial products and services index edged up 0.02 of-a-point to 150.1 and the energy index climbed 3.5 points to 702.46.
The Main Market volume narrowed to 1.15 billion units valued at RM1.83 billion against yesterday’s 1.21 billion units worth RM1.9 billion.
Warrants turnover dwindled to 967.1 million units worth RM118.58 million from 1.5 billion units valued at RM201.92 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume slid to 288.86 million shares valued at RM78.35 million versus 323.1 million shares worth RM94.99 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 193.98 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (191.61 million), construction (104.48 million), technology (129.41 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (86.14 million), property (187.72 million), plantation (216.54 million), REITs (15.21 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (75.41 million), healthcare (54.76 million), telecommunications and media (45.06 million), transportation and logistics (15.81 million), utilities (34.15 million), and business trusts (600).

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