KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): Bursa Malaysia continued its recent bullish streak, ending higher on Tuesday for the fifth straight session with buying activities mainly on banking, telecommunication and consumer stocks while profit-taking was seen on utility stocks.

The barometer index had increased by 45.73 points over the five days.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI climbed 0.21%, or 3.13 points to 1,498.83 from Monday's close of 1,495.7.

The benchmark index opened 1.47 points firmer at 1,497.17 and moved between 1,496.84 and 1,503.93 throughout the trading session.

However, in the broader market, decliners outnumbered gainers 605 to 410 while 475 counters were unchanged, 729 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover declined to 6.44 billion units worth RM3.77 billion from 6.96 billion units worth RM4.21 billion on Monday.

Rakuten Trade equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said key regional bourses closed higher as well as technology stocks surged after a tech-led rally on Wall Street overnight.

“The surge in technology stocks was propelled by a substantial amount of bargain hunting.

“Meanwhile, investors are eagerly awaiting the release of the next set of US inflation numbers later this week, anticipating further clarity on when the US Federal Reserve (Fed) might commence cutting interest rates,” he said.

Thong anticipates more upside if the local benchmark index, currently testing the psychological level of 1,500 points, successfully breaks through this resistance and can hold it for an extended period.

“As such, we maintain our weekly FBM KLCI target at between 1,490 and 1,510 at this juncture,” he added. 

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank Bhd gained four sen to RM9.10, Public Bank Bhd recouped three sen to RM4.39 while CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd inched up two sen each to RM6.05 and RM10.56, respectively.

However, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd lost 12 sen to RM7.10. 

Of the actives, TWL Holdings Bhd edged up half a sen to 4.5 sen, Minetech Resources Bhd went up 1.5 sen to 23.5 sen and Industronics Bhd jumped by 2.5 sen to nine sen.

Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd shed half a sen to 2.5 sen while Saudee was flat at three sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index put on 6.77 points to 11,166.15, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 12.35 points to 10,813.71 but the FBM ACE Index fell 5.76 points to 5,442.94.

The FBM 70 Index dropped 24.47 points to 15,109.37 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 11.12 points to 11,266.65.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index recovered 66.87 points to 16,735.92, the Plantation Index added 16.46 points to 7,082.19 while the Energy Index eased 4.51 points to 844.49.

The Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 1.08 points to 177.11 and the Property Index slid 17.73 points to 904.87.

The Main Market volume dropped to 4.38 billion units valued at RM3.34 billion against 4.74 billion units valued at RM3.8 billion on Monday.  

Warrant turnover jumped to 1.03 billion units worth RM127.07 million from 867.57 million units worth RM108.87 million previously. 

The ACE Market volume narrowed to 1.03 billion shares valued at RM294.60 million versus 1.34 billion shares worth RM303.60 million on Monday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 822.47 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (974.21 million); construction (235.35 million); technology (827.71 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (105.58 million); property (705.43 million); plantation (30.19 million); REITs (16.47 million), closed/fund (65,000); energy (192.68 million); healthcare (147.27 million); telecommunications and media (42.41 million); transportation and logistics (92.29 million); and utilities (185.55 million).