KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 11): Bursa Malaysia ended higher on Wednesday (Jan 11), lifted by buying interest in most heavyweights, led by energy and technology stocks, amid improving market sentiment across the region, said a dealer.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) put on 2.74 points or 0.18% to 1,487.87 from Tuesday's closing of 1,485.13.  

The market bellwether opened 1.91 points better at 1,487.04 and moved between 1,484.21 and 1,489 throughout the trading day.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 573 to 340, while 390 counters were unchanged, 898 untraded, and 10 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 3.57 billion units worth RM2.17 billion against Tuesday's 3.19 billion units worth RM1.91 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said regional indices closed broadly higher, boosted by the upbeat performance on Wall Street overnight ahead of market-moving reports due later in the week.

“Meanwhile, investors are buoyed by China’s border reopening, which keeps the market undertone steady,” he told Bernama.

On the domestic front, he reckoned that the local market equities will further improve driven by positive investor sentiment in the region.

“Additionally, buying support from local institutions have been rather apparent, hence, we reckon the index will show a more positive performance and expect it to hover between 1,480 and 1,500 range for the remainder of the week,” he added.

Region-wise, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.49% to 21,436.05, Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.26% to 3,271.51, Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased 1.03% to 26,446, and South Korea’s Kospi went up 0.35% to 2,359.53.

Among heavyweights, Dialog Group Bhd added three sen to RM2.58, Inari Amertron Bhd gained one sen to RM2.65, Digi.Com Bhd climbed 12 sen to RM4.10, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) perked up four sen to RM8.83, and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd edged up five sen to RM5.77.

As for the actives, Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) advanced 5.5 sen to 56 sen, Cypark Resources Bhd rose 1.5 sen to 71.5 sen, DS Sigma Holdings Bhd gained 1.5 sen to 65.5 sen, Velesto Energy Bhd ticked up half-a-sen to 16.5 sen, while Citaglobal Bhd shed three sen to 32 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 33.78 points to 10,726.38, the FBMT 100 Index gained 28.30 points to 10,423.92, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 23.75 points higher at 10,917.09.

The FBM 70 Index was 75.47 points firmer at 13,193.84, and the FBM ACE Index inched up 32.93 points to 5,409.76.   

Sector-wise, the Energy Index increased 17.84 points to 813.90, the Technology Index advanced 0.76 of-a-point to 65.04, the Financial Services Index jumped 85.13 points to 16,565.46, the Plantation Index garnered 10.28 points to 6,934.68, and the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 0.85 of-a-point to 183.30.

The Main Market volume improved to 2.36 billion shares worth RM1.83 billion compared with Tuesday’s 1.97 billion shares worth RM1.56 billion.

Warrants turnover swelled to 334.68 million units worth RM77.61 million from 261.58 million units worth RM54.45 million on Tuesday.

The ACE Market volume decreased to 871.35 million shares worth RM265.24 million from 950.96 million shares worth RM290 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 261.26 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (656.81 million), construction (105.65 million), technology (717.99 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (49.81 million), property (135.78 million), plantation (32.28 million), REITs (7.21 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (209.81 million), healthcare (72.69 million), telecommunications and media (39.07 million), transportation and logistics (39.38 million), and utilities (40.84 million).