KUALA LUMPUR (March 29): Bursa Malaysia closed marginally higher on Friday, hitting an intraday high as bargain-hunting activities emerged following a few lacklustre trading sessions earlier.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 5.47 points to 1,536.07 from Wednesday’s (March 27) close of 1,530.6. 

The benchmark index opened 1.51 points higher at 1,532.11 and moved between 1,532.03 and 1,542 throughout the day.  

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 516 to 469, while 502 counters were unchanged, 833 untraded, and 55 others suspended.

Turnover narrowed to 3.06 billion units worth RM2.59 billion from 3.75 billion units worth RM3.1 billion on Wednesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said investors are still staying cautious despite some improvement in market sentiment.

“Recognising that investors’ expectations fluctuate over time. We expect the benchmark index to remain in its sideways pattern for the time being until more clarity emerges regarding the anticipated United States interest rate cut.

“The FBM KLCI has remained in the consolidation phase over the past two weeks. Despite the ongoing deeper consolidation, the index has consistently remained above the 50-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMA),” he said.

As such, Thong maintains his view that the benchmark index is still consolidating with a slight positive bias, with expectations of it hovering around the 20-day EMA.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank Bhd bagged four sen to RM9.69, Public Bank Bhd added a sen to RM4.22, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd gained nine sen to RM6.64, and Tenaga Nasional Bhd expanded 14 sen to RM11.38.

Meanwhile, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd declined eight sen to RM6.71.

As for the actives, Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd and Lambo Group Bhd were flat at one sen and three sen, respectively, MMAG Holdings Bhd expanded 1.5 sen to 19 sen, Southern Score Builders Bhd added 4.5 sen to 34.5 sen, while Ingenieur Gudang Bhd slipped a sen to 15 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 45.61 points to 11,571.59, the FBMT 100 Index increased by 45.03 points to 11,217.57, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 30.08 points to 11,643.52.

The FBM ACE Index advanced 54.33 points to 4,897.06, while the FBM 70 Index escalated by 85.93 points to 16,234.08.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 91.15 points to 17,273.27, the Industrial Products and Services Index slightly rose by 0.09 of a point to 179.63, and the Energy Index increased by 9.37 points to 952.36.

The Plantation Index dipped by 10.89 points to 7,287.67.

Meanwhile, the Main Market volume reduced to 1.89 billion units valued at RM2.33 billion from 2.19 billion units valued at RM2.75 billion on Wednesday.

Warrants turnover dipped to 282.04 million units worth RM30.29 million from 800.47 million units worth RM107.3 million on Wednesday.  

The ACE Market volume expanded to 855.36 million shares worth RM223.79 million from 751.3 million shares worth RM238.38 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 231.9 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (431.67 million); construction (191.49 million); technology (287.68 million); SPAC (0.00 million); financial services (109.97 million); property (279.02 million); plantation (31.89 million); REITs (17.89 million); closed/fund (10,100); energy (127.78 million); healthcare (47.09 million); telecommunications and media (47.85 million); transportation and logistics (41.31 million); and utilities (43.45 million).

Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries were closed on Wednesday for Nuzul Al-Quran.