KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher on the first trading day of the week on continuous foreign buying support, amid a mixed regional market performance, said an analyst.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 10.76 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 1,629.82, the highest since March 2021 from Friday's close of 1,619.06.
The key index opened 0.80 of-a-point higher at 1,619.86 and moved between 1,619.19 and 1,632.69 throughout the day.
Gainers trounced losers 738 to 491, with 480 counters unchanged, 757 untraded, and 24 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 5.36 billion units worth RM3.95 billion from Friday's 4.58 billion units worth RM3.72 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the outlook of Malaysian equities remained optimistic with rising daily trading volume, indicating greater market appetite, and anticipated that the key index will trend within the 1,615-1,635 region for the week.
Meanwhile, the key regional indices ended mixed with profit-taking activities seen in certain countries amid political uncertainty in the United States after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
"Additionally, meetings of top Chinese officials will be closely watched for more signals on economic stimulus," said Thong.
On the local bourse, heavyweights Maybank rose 10 sen to RM10.14, TNB and Public Bank both added two sen to RM14.48 and RM4.13, respectively, CIMB gained five sen to RM7.18, Press Metal bagged eight sen to RM6.03, while Petronas Chemicals slipped five sen to RM6.06.
Among the active counters, Ekovest rose one sen to 51.5 sen, Jati Tinggi increased 3.5 sen to 70 sen, JAKS edged up half-a-sen to 17.5 sen. Aimflex was flat at 20.5 sen, while Velesto declined 2.5 sen to 23 sen and UUE Holdings shed 8.5 sen to 84 sen.