KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 5): Bursa Malaysia snapped two consecutive days of losses to end higher on Thursday (Jan 5) with the key index rising by 0.77% on bargain-hunting activities.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 11.38 points or 0.77% to 1,480.93 from Wednesday's closing of 1,469.55.

The market bellwether opened 2.91 points higher at 1,472.46 and moved between 1,471.91 and 1,481.01 throughout the day.

Market breadth was positive with advancers leading decliners 479 to 418, while 404 counters were unchanged, 908 untraded, and nine others suspended.

Turnover increased to 3.31 billion units worth RM1.96 billion from Wednesday's 3.24 billion units worth RM1.71 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the reopening of China’s borders has boosted investor sentiment as it will stimulate tourism and consumption, while at the same time, be able to mitigate the regional supply chain problem.

"We anticipate the index to move higher, within the 1,475-1,490 range towards the weekend,” he added.

Among heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) increased seven sen to RM8.78, Public Bank Bhd rose two sen to RM4.30, IHH Healthcare Bhd gained two sen to RM6.01, Digi.Com Bhd was two sen higher at RM3.86, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd declined five sen to RM8.40, and Hong Leong Bank Bhd shed two sen to RM20.34.

As for the actives, Citaglobal Bhd bagged three sen to 35.5 sen, Top Glove Corp Bhd improved by five sen to 91 sen, Artroniq Bhd garnered six sen to 78.5 sen, Green Packet Bhd was flat at 6.5 sen, Revenue Group Bhd fell 19 sen to 48.5 sen, and Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd shed one sen to 17 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went up 72.57 points to 10,634.97, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 76.54 points to 10,348.34, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 75.81 points to 10,834.55.

The FBM 70 Index was 83.47 points higher at 13,056.1 while the FBM ACE Index dipped 6.23 points to 5,372.3.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index soared 103.82 points to 16,424.36, the Plantation Index increased 87.27 points to 6,964.81, the Industrial Products and Services Index put on 0.44 points to 181.86, and the Energy Index slipped 7.35 points to 773.88.

The Main Market volume expanded to 2.28 billion shares worth RM1.60 billion from 2.13 billion shares worth RM1.36 billion on Wednesday.

Warrants turnover declined to 319.36 million units valued at RM71.90 million against 419.08 million units valued at RM90.17 million.

The ACE Market volume swelled to 707.22 million shares worth RM287.34 million from 685.72 million shares worth RM259.92 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 324.42 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (459.29 million), construction (63.92 million), technology (803.68 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (62.54 million), property (104.62 million), plantation (22.16 million), REITs (9.23 million), closed/fund (15,000), energy (102.31 million), healthcare (152.31 million), telecommunications and media (111.61 million), transportation and logistics (41.78 million), and utilities (23.18 million).