KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the day slightly higher supported by bargain hunt activities in plantation stocks.
At 5pm, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed 0.37 per cent or 5.62 points higher at 1,543.75 versus Wednesday's close of 1,538.13.
The benchmark index opened at 1,535.60 and hit the lowest of 1,533.80 throughout the trading session today.
The broader market was positive with gainers surpassing decliners 513 to 478 while 494 counters remained unchanged. On the index board, FBM100 added 0.33 per cent to 11,141.63, FBM Emas gained 0.31 per cent to 11,478.85 and FBM Ace was up 0.45 per cent to 4,727.58.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said investors seized the opportunity to bargain hunt plantation stocks at lower levels following yesterday's selloff.
"We anticipate investor sentiment to remain positive as the increasing daily trading volume signifies a higher appetite for the market. "Therefore, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,540-1,550 towards the weekend," he said in a note.
He added that key regional indices ended mixed due to mixed cues from Wall Street overnight.
Investor sentiment was also dampened by increasing speculation that the Bank of Japan might consider ending its negative interest rate policy in its upcoming meeting.
"On a positive note, expectations still lean towards the US Federal Reserve (Fed) initiating rate cuts in June, primarily because the longer-term trend for inflation appears to be downward," said Thong.