KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia maintained its upward trend to close higher at 1,590.95, driven by bargain hunting activities.
At 5pm, the market bellwether FBM KLCI rose 5.57 points or 0.35 per cent to 1,590.95 from Tuesday's close of 1,585.38.
The index was traded within a range of 11.66 points between an intra-day high of 1,593.42 and a low of 1,581.76 during the session.
There were 674 gainers, 433 losers and 465 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. Turnover stood at 4.73 billion shares valued at RM3.2 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed higher as bargain hunting emerged after several days of sell-offs.
On the home front, Thog said investors are now favouring utilities, banks and smaller-cap stocks in the technology and healthcare sectors.
"We reckon the market undertone will remain steady due to improving investor sentiment and expect the index to stay positive going forward, spurred by a renewed sense of optimism.
"We project that the FBM KLCI will trend higher in the range of 1,585-1,600 for the rest of the week," he told Business Times.
Of the most actives counters, Ingenieur Gudang Bhd stayed flat at 65 sen, JCY International Bhd rose four sen to 74 sen while Prolintas Infra Business Trust fell 3.5 sen to 88 sen amid bribery allegations at trustee Prolintas Managers.
In a filing with the stock exchange today, Prolintas Managers acknowledged that some board members had been remanded by the MACC to aid in an investigation.
The individuals concerned have been given leave of absence commencing from June 26.