KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher on Thursday as bargain hunting emerged following a few sessions in consolidation mode.
At 5pm today, the FBM-KLCI was at 1,611.11 up 7.88 points, compared to yesterday's close of 1,603.23.
There were 720 gainers, 492 losers and 456 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia.
Turnover was at 6.049 billion shares valued at RM4.354 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices ended positively as a softer US inflation report raised hopes for two interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year.
As for the local bourse, Thong said the firm remains positive about the recovery of global market sentiment.
"Furthermore, we anticipate that this bullish momentum will drive the benchmark index towards the next resistance level of 1,615 as the bulls regain strength.
"Consequently, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,605-1,620 towards the weekend, with immediate resistance at 1,615 followed by 1,635 and support at 1,600 followed by 1,585," he told Business Times.
Among the heavyweight counters, Tenaga Nasional Bhd rose 26 sen to RM12.66, while Public Bank Bhd rose four sen to RM4.19 and YTL Corp Bhd went up two sen to RM3.65.
Among the active list, Revenue Group Bhd shed half sen to 23 sen, Top Glove Corp Bhd slid six sen to RM1.20, MQ Technology was down half sen at 1.5 sen, Careplus Group Bhd eased three sen to 35 sen and Supermax Corp Bhd dropped seven sen to RM1.01.
