KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 5): Bursa Malaysia ended higher for the third consecutive day on Wednesday (Oct 5), in line with regional peers amid improving sentiment after a rally on Wall Street overnight, an analyst said.

At 5pm, the benchmark index advanced 11.19 points, or 0.8%, to end at 1,420.55 from Tuesday's close of 1,409.36.

It opened 4.31 points better at 1,413.67 and moved to a high of 1,424.65.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing decliners 518 to 349, while 397 counters were unchanged, 1,066 untraded, and six others suspended.

Turnover stood at 3.23 billion units worth RM1.72 billion.

Mohd Sedek Jantan, UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd head of wealth research and adviser, said the Wall Street rally overnight bolstered trading in the FBM KLCI and Asian markets.

"In the short term, the market will remain highly vulnerable to external headwinds and the performance of US markets.

"Locally, all eyes will be on the Budget 2023, which will be unveiled this Friday.

“Although there are pockets of trading opportunities, we maintain that Budget 2023 and the 15th general election (GE15) would generally be market-neutral," he told Bernama.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng expects the overall market sentiment to further improve as falling commodity prices, especially crude oil, might ease inflationary risks in the global economy.

Nonetheless, investors will remain cautious about the heightened market volatility although the local market remained in an oversold position, he said.

Thong expects the FBM KLCI to trend slightly higher between 1,410 and 1,430 for the remainder of the week, with immediate resistance at 1,450 and support at 1,400, followed by 1,380.

Among Bursa heavyweight counters, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) added two sen to RM8.70, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd widened by 26 sen to RM8.65, and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd grew by three sen to RM5.26. Public Bank Bhd fell two sen to RM4.25, and IHH Healthcare Bhd was flat at RM5.85.

Of the actives, MMAG Holdings Bhd reduced one sen to 2.5 sen, Cypark Resources Bhd gave up 2.5 sen to 43.5 sen, and Hiap Huat Holdings Bhd eased half-a-sen to 15.5 sen.

Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd pushed up 7.5 sen to 94.5 sen, and Top Glove Corp Bhd bagged two sen to 64 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index widened 68.54 points to 10,119.45, the FBM 70 garnered 54.91 points to 12,235.62, and the FBMT 100 Index improved 69.86 points to 9,872.69.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 100.37 points to 10,169.91, and the FBM ACE climbed 25.27 points to 4,734.27.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index added 9.58 points to 694.1, the Financial Services Index was 34.67 points better at 16,126.1, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 4.09 points to 173.95.

The Plantation Index surged 157 points to 6,595.06.

The Main Market volume widened to 1.47 billion shares worth RM1.43 billion against Tuesday’s 1.36 billion shares worth RM1.26 billion.

Warrant turnover advanced to 346.67 million units valued at RM59.66 million from 107.86 million units valued at RM13.55 million previously.  

The ACE Market volume surged to 1.41 billion shares worth RM228.56 million from 443.62 million shares worth RM180.15 million on Tuesday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 215.16 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (445.50 million), construction (35.01 million), technology (157.13 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (57.39 million), property (148.44 million), plantation (35.62 million), REITs (4.82 million), closed/fund (10,000), energy (199.52 million), healthcare (111.64 million), telecommunications and media (19.93 million), transportation and logistics (34.48 million) and utilities (10.26 million).