KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed on a positive note on Thursday, hitting an intraday high after taking signals from key regional indices, which were generally in the green following a positive cue from Wall Street overnight as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept its interest rate steady.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 0.57 per cent or 8.22 points to 1,456.26 compared with yesterday’s closing of 1,448.04 .

The key index opened 0.84 of a point better at 1,448.88 and moved between 1,448.14 and 1,456.26 throughout the day.

In the broader market, gainers thumped losers 567 to 352, while 452 counters were unchanged, 973 untraded, and 37 others suspended.

Turnover surged to 4.25 billion units worth RM2.78 billion from 3.76 billion units worth RM2.40 billion yesterday.

Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the two primary takeaways from the two-day FOMC meeting were that interest rates remained steady and that the Fed indicated it will begin decreasing interest rates next year, which sparked a rally on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones index finishing at a new high.

“With the rate cut in the US, we expect foreign funds to return to the region due to the attractive valuations of the regional markets and better economic growth. Hence, we expect Malaysia to benefit from the spillover effect, which will have a positive impact on the local market,” he told Bernama.

Thong added that with the renewed optimism, the FBM KLCI is anticipated to trend within the range of 1,455-1,465 towards the weekend.

Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.07 per cent to 16,402.19, Singapore’s Strait Times Index was 0.66 per cent better at 3,124.65, South Korea’s Kospi added 1.34 per cent to 2,544.18, however, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.73 per cent to 32,686.25.

Among heavyweights, Maybank was two sen lower at RM9.05 but Public Bank added four sen at RM4.30, CIMB gained two sen at RM5.81, Tenaga Nasional was nine sen better at RM9.97 and Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.15.

Of the actives, Sapura Energy was flat at five sen, Top Glove added 3.5 sen to 91 sen, Velesto and SMTrack were one sen better at 22.5 sen and five sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 73.89 points to 10,787.67, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 73.95 points to 10,454.97, the FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened 89.02 points to 10,904.84,

The FBM 70 Index surged 166.89 points to 14,396.63 but the FBM ACE Index fell 11.49 points to 5,139.32.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index went up 55.80 points to 16,430.05 and the Energy Index was 14.90 points better at 804.23.

The Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.99 of-a-point to 171.73 and the Plantation Index was 7.25 points better at 7,000.82.

The Main Market volume expanded to 2.67 billion units valued at 2.42 billion against 2.49 billion units valued at RM2.13 billion on Wednesday.

Warrants turnover edged up to 790.68 million units worth RM121.04 million from 644.97 million units worth RM82.56 million previously.

The ACE Market volume improved to 784.15 million shares valued at 233.96 million versus 617.69 million shares valued at RM187.42 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 327.83 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (603.53 million); construction (196.38 million); technology (143.96 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (73.69 million); property (279.1 million); plantation (38.18 million); REITs (17.15 million), closed/fund (9,800); energy (473.19 million); healthcare (357.06 million); telecommunications and media (24.02 million); transportation and logistics (38.99 million); and utilities (98.46 million). – Bernama