Bursa Malaysia ends higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher yesterday, lifted by continuous buying interest in selected heavyweights and windowdressing activity.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 10.62 points or 0.66 per cent to end at an intraday high of 1,630.30 against Tuesday’s close of 1,619.68, after touching an intraday low of 1,619.09 earlier.

The key index opened 1.21 points better at 1,620.89.

On the broader market, gainers trounced losers 416 to 287 with 345 counters unchanged, 707 untraded and 49 suspended.

Volume increased to 1.410 billion shares worth RM1.447 billion against Tuesday’s 1.09 billion shares worth RM1.028 billion.

Among heavyweights, Maybank jumped 20 sen to RM7.95, Maxis expanded 19 sen to RM6.10, Genting accumulated 24 sen to RM7.97 and Axiata was 10 sen higher at RM4.62.

Public Bank was flat at RM19.68 while TNB declined two sen to RM13.60 and Petronas Chemicals fell one sen to RM6.87.

Of the actives, Perisai Petroleum gained 1.5 sen to nine sen, Hibiscus Petroleum added 2.5 sen to 40 sen, Kuantan Flour Mills increased nine sen to 18 sen and Sumatec Resources added one sen to 6.5 sen.

A dealer said the stronger local market was in tandem with most of its regional peers on Wall Street’s overnight performance.

Singapore’s Straits Times rose 0.83 per cent to 21,754.74, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng increased 0.36 per cent to 2,896.11 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 was slightly lower by 0.01 per cent at 19,401.72.

Back home, the FBM Emas Index expanded 69.62 points to 11,397.46, the FBMT 100 Index accrued 68.62 points to 11,118.41 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 48.08 points to 11,949.60.

The FBM 70 advanced 65.60 points to 12,980.44 and the FBM Ace grew 22.14 points to 4,785.91.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index enhanced 85.52 points to 14,245.89, the Industrial Index went up 20.15 points to 3,115.60 while the Plantation Index declined 18.58 points to 7,672.62.

Main Market turnover appreciated to 1.091 billion units worth RM1.394 billion from 785.04 million units worth RM994.53 million on Tuesday. — Bernama