UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd head of investment research Sedek Jantan said the development in the US-China trade negotiations marks a constructive step toward de-escalation, although it falls short of a material breakthrough.
Domestically, the market found additional support from encouraging macroeconomic data, with figures released today by the statistics department showing that the sales value of the manufacturing sector rose by 4.8% year-on-year in April 2025, reaching RM160.6 billion.
“Notably, the domestic-oriented industries expanded further by 3.6% in April, up from a 1.8% increase in March.
“Although these indicators are typically considered lagging, they are nonetheless critical in signalling that Malaysia’s economic and export sectors remain fundamentally solid despite global trade uncertainties,” he said.
Sedek further elaborated that investor sentiment was buoyed by an improvement in trading activity as market volume rebounded to a more normalised level, surpassing the three billion shares mark after languishing around 2.7 billion shares for the past five consecutive trading days.
“Financials, utilities, and data centre-related counters led the gainers, reflecting renewed confidence in sectors anchored by domestic demand and long-term structural trends,” he added.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.89 points, or 0.45%, to 1,523.84 from Tuesday’s close of 1,516.95.
The benchmark index opened 3.91 points higher at 1,520.86 this morning, which was its day’s low, and subsequently moved to a high of 1,530.85 in the early session.
On the broader market, gainers thumped decliners 545 to 375, while 528 counters were unchanged, 921 untraded and 11 suspended.
Turnover soared to 3.27 billion units worth RM2.59 billion compared with yesterday’s 2.72 billion units worth RM2.09 billion.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank advanced 4 sen to RM9.70, Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM14.24, Public Bank and CIMB both rose 5 sen to RM4.31 and RM6.90, respectively, while IHH slipped 3 sen to RM6.86.
The top gainers in the broader market were led by consumer products and services counters, with F&N adding 64 sen to RM28.44, followed by Nestle, which gained 56 sen to RM75.56, and Allianz climbed 26 sen to RM19.38.
Among the most active stocks, MyEG was 2 sen higher at 97 sen, TWL was flat at 2.5 sen, YTL Corporation improved 16 sen to RM2.18, Gamuda was 6 sen better at RM4.76, and Tanco perked up 1 sen to 97.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 43.61 points to 11,437.73, the FBMT 100 Index increased 43.99 points to 11,203.54, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 23.45 points to 11,392.67, the FBM 70 Index climbed 38.56 points to 16,525.22, while the FBM ACE Index added 33.27 points to 4,544.05.
Sector-wise, the energy index ticked up 0.46 of-a-point to 723.77 while the financial services index notched up 84.85 points to 17,779.15, the industrial products and services index inched up 0.40 of-a-point to 152.31, and the plantation index firmed 3.79 points to 7,213.82.
The Main Market volume improved to 1.41 billion units valued at RM2.32 billion from 1.26 billion units valued at RM1.88 billion registered at yesterday’s close.
Warrants turnover expanded to 1.61 billion units worth RM174.7 million from 1.15 billion units worth RM108.32 million previously.
The ACE Market volume declined to 255.08 million units valued at RM93.16 million from 311.24 million units valued at RM95.09 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 228.4 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (222.94 million), construction (153.71 million), technology (215.61 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (75.25 million), property (196.82 million), plantation (15.42 million), REITs (27.28 million), closed-end funds (25,200), energy (74.84 million), healthcare (46.98 million), telecommunications and media (40.26 million), transportation and logistics (16.93 million), utilities (94.07 million), and business trusts (493,000).