Bursa Malaysia Up For 4th Day Running, CI Ends At Intra-Day High

By Siti Noor Afera Abu

KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed at an intra-day high today, marking its fourth consecutive session of gains, which reflected a positive carry-over from Wall Street’s strong close last Friday, amid a mixed regional market performance.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 12.39 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 1,521.59 from last Friday’s close of 1,509.20. 

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The benchmark index opened 2.63 points higher at 1,511.83, and dipped to its lowest point of 1,511.48 during the early session before steadily climbing towards the close.

Market breadth was positive, with advancers beating decliners 519 to 420, while 436 counters were unchanged, 1,092 untraded, and 58 suspended.

Turnover declined to 2.61 billion units valued at RM1.74 billion against last Friday’s 3.10 billion units valued at RM1.95 billion.

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UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan commented that no ‘shocking post’ from US President Donald Trump on Truth Social this weekend allowed the FBM KLCI to ride the wave of trade optimism, as Malaysia’s export-driven market benefitted from stable sentiment.

 He noted that, importantly the FBM Small Cap Index rose 2.9 per cent on a Friday-to-Friday basis, signalling a meaningful rebound in demand for higher-beta, risk-sensitive assets -- a dynamic often associated with early-stage recovery sentiment.

Another positive development was that Bursa Malaysia recorded three consecutive days of foreign net buying from Wednesday to Friday last week.

“We are optimistic that this momentum will persist despite headwinds such as trade tensions and the International Monetary Fund’s recent downward revision of global gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

“This resilience highlights Malaysia’s ability to attract investor interest even against a challenging external backdrop,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng believes that the return of foreign buying will have a strong positive impact on both market performance and investor sentiment, thereby boosting daily trading volumes.

“We maintain a cautiously optimistic view on current developments in the local market, however, we remain mindful that fluctuations in Trump’s tone could affect market stability.

“As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,515-1,535 range, representing the support and resistance levels,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 12 sen to RM9.99, Public Bank rose nine sen to RM4.45, Tenaga Nasional perked up 4.0 sen to RM13.60, Press Metal increased six sen to RM4.90, while CIMB was flat at RM6.99.

As for the actives, MYEG and JCY gained half-a-sen each to 91 sen and 36 sen, respectively, SNS Network put on 2.5 sen to 46 sen, Tanco rose 2.0 sen to 88 sen, CTOS fell 5.5 sen to 99.5 sen, and Velesto slid half-a-sen to 15.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 80.97 points to 11,300.81, the FBMT 100 Index increased 81.85 points to 11,071.77, the FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 64.06 points to 11,148.32, the FBM 70 Index garnered 84.24 points to 15,875.34, and the FBM ACE Index put on 6.52 points to 4,630.09. 

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index soared 172.13 points to 18,163.32, the Industrial Products and Services Index firmed 0.88 of a point to 149.61, the Energy Index gained 0.89 of a point to 675.57, while the Plantation Index slipped 1.30 points to 7,223.62. 

The Main Market volume declined to 1.31 billion units worth RM1.55 billion against last Friday’s 1.43 billion units worth RM1.70 billion.

Warrants turnover slid to 1.03 billion units valued at RM91.46 million from 1.29 billion units valued at RM128.76 million previously. 

The ACE Market volume dwindled to 274.96 million units worth RM90.13 million compared to 378.54 million units worth RM120.71 million on Friday. 

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 137.39 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (181.12 million), construction (97.60 million), technology (288.81 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (79.10 million), property (164.53 million), plantation (16.76 million), REITs (15.42 million), closed/fund (28,200), energy (126.54 million), healthcare (77.04 million), telecommunications and media (46.75 million), transportation and logistics (32.37 million), utilities (50.72 million), and business trusts (60,500).

-- BERNAMA