KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia continued its upward trajectory for the fourth consecutive session yesterday to breach the psychological 1,500 points level, driven by buying, mainly in plantation and energy stocks, said a dealer.

The FBM KLCI was 9.84 points or 0.65% higher to finish at 1,502.07 from Friday’s close of 1,492.23.

The benchmark index, which opened 0.44 of-a-point firmer at 1,492.67, moved between 1,490.69 and 1,503.83 throughout the day.

The overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 546 to 355, while 407 counters were unchanged, 934 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Total turnover declined to 2.38 billion units worth RM1.49bil from 2.79 billion units worth RM1.98bil last Friday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices were also in the positive territory following upbeat cues from Wall Street last Friday.

Meanwhile, reports said China’s service sector activity in the republic continued to expand despite a slowdown in manufacturing, giving some boost to investor sentiment.

“We expect the FBM KLCI to trend higher, within the range of 1,495 to 1,515 for the week,” he told Bernama.

Maybank improved one sen to RM8.87, PETRONAS Chemicals added seven sen to RM8.95, IHH Healthcare increased 11 sen to RM6.50, CIMB gained four sen to RM5.25, while Public Bank was flat at RM4.64.

Of the actives, CSH Alliance was half-a-sen higher at 7.5 sen, Dagang Nexchange rose two sen to 82.5 sen, and UMediC was up six sen to 55 sen.

Both Metronic Global and Sedania trimmed 1.5 sen each to 12.5 sen and 42 sen, respectively. — Bernama