KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 25): The FBM KLCI closed higher for the fourth consecutive day, as dust seems starting to settle in the political scene after the recent change of premiership.

The benchmark index went up 16.43 points or 1.06% to close at a two-month high of 1,564.66 points. The index touched an intraday high of 1,568.67 points.

Trading volume was at 4.55 billion units today, worth RM2.89 billion, compared with 4.21 billion shares worth RM2.14 billion yesterday.

Market breadth turned slightly negative today with 509 gainers against 532 decliners, while 469 counters were unchanged.

According to Inter-Pacific Securities head of research Victor Wan, market sentiment has improved as the political uncertainties are dissipating, at least in the near term.

"Obviously, the calmer political environment has been a factor in the rise of the index," said Wan. "However, the way the market has been rising over the past few days, I think it might (have been) overbought. We might see some pullback looking ahead," he added.

While corporate earnings have improved on a year-on-year basis, Wan said that some companies have seen lower earnings against in the preceding quarter due to the reinstatement of the Movement Control Order.

He said that financial results have been slightly below expectations, although he added that earnings released so far are "not too disappointing".

"Overall, the worst is over and the economy is slowly opening up but we are not totally out of the woods yet. The daily Covid-19 infections are still high and the vaccination rate has been rather slow in some states," he said.

The gainers, in terms of value, were led by Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd, while the decliners were led by KESM Industries Bhd, Genetec Technology Bhd and Petronas Dagangan Bhd.

Kanger International Bhd was the most actively traded stock with 361 million shares.

Regionally, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.03% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.13%, while Seoul's Kospi and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.27% and 0.74% respectively.