KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia snapped a three-day losing streak to end higher on Friday on persistent buying support in financial services as well as healthcare counters, amid mixed sentiments on the regional markets, dealers said.

       At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 12.37 points to 1,531.22 from Thursday's close of 1,518.85.

       Maybank gained 11 sen to RM8.11 and Top Glove increased 15 sen to RM2.45, lifting the key index higher by a combined 4.49 points.

       The KLCI opened 3.84 points higher at 1,522.69 and fluctuated between 1,520.67 and 1,532.64 throughout the trading session.

       The broader market was positive as advancers outpaced decliners 521 to 414, while 459 counters were unchanged, 921 untraded, and 19 others suspended.

       Turnover rose to 3.11 billion units valued at RM2.62 billion from Thursday’s 3.02 billion units valued at RM2.24 billion.

       Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the KLCI rebounded on bargain-hunting activities and foreign buying support.

       "The benchmark index gained 0.81 per cent to close at 1,531.22, lifted mainly by gloves and banking counters. Key regional markets also ended higher following overnight gains for tech stocks stateside as the Nasdaq Composite rebounded.

       "China/Hong Kong stocks rose on optimism Beijing will ease regulatory curbs to shore up growth,” he told Bernama.

       On the domestic front, he said the local bourse trended higher and the KLCI managed to close above the 1,520 support level.

       Among other heavyweights, Public Bank was flat at RM4.02, Petronas Chemicals added 1.0 sen to RM8.31, CIMB went up 3.0 sen to RM5.04, while IHH Healthcare slipped 3.0 sen to RM6.43 and TNB declined 1.0 sen to RM9.62.

       Of the actives, DNeX and LKL International went up 1.0 sen each to 84 sen and 12 sen, respectively, AirAsia X rose 1.5 sen to 7.5 sen, while NWP Holdings improved 2.0 sen to 35.5 sen. - Bernama