KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia stayed in positive territory supported by buying activities in the financial services and healthcare sectors.
At 5pm, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up 0.21 per cent or 3.40 points to close at 1,614.42.
The key index, which opened at 1,617.14, moved between 1,613.15 and 1,618.02 throughout the trading session today.
Losers led gainers in the broader market 666 to 528 while 481 counters were unchanged.
On the index board, FBM Emas gained 0.22 per cent to 12,472.88, FBM 100 added 0.28 per cent to 12,045.93 and FBM Ace tumbled 0.27 per cent to 5,950.26.
Tradeview Capital fund manager Neoh Jia Man said the rally in banks and telcos, both laggards year-to-date, was driven by bargain-hunting activities.
However, he noted the momentum of the benchmark index for the week depends on the US CPI and jobless claim data set that will be released on Thursday as these might influence market expectations regarding the timing of a U.S. Fed rate cut.
"Besides the pending release of key U.S. economic data, we believe the OPR decision by Bank Negara Malaysia is another significant event for Bursa Malaysia this week.
"The consensus expects the central bank to maintain the OPR at its current level, and we think the risk of a surprise decision is minimal," he told Business Times.