KUALA LUMPUR: The local bourse continued to put on gains, rising 7.23 points to 1,800.23.
Turnover was three billion shares with a value of RM1.54bil. There were 461 gainers to 250 decliners and 582 counters unchanged.
Economic data from the US and Germany boosted investor optimism, lending Asian markets a lift to near 10-year highs.
On the FBM KLCI, Petronas Chemicals rose 19 sen to RM8.14, leading the index 2.49 points higher. Other leading gainers included Sime Darby Plantations, which gained five sen to RM5.55 while Maxis added four sen to RM5.99.
Sime Darby also rose, putting on 25 sen to RM2.66, while Tenaga Nasional gained four sen to RM15.34.
Decliners included Genting Malaysia, dipping six sen to RM5.74; Press Metal
, shaving seven sen to RM5.20; and Telekom Malaysia declining eight sen to RM6.07.
Glovemakers on Bursa Malaysia were in play on Thursday, with industry leader Top Glove surging 89 sen to RM8.79. Hartalega rose 40 sen to RM10.80 and Kossan gained 24 sen to RM8.34.
Meanwhile, UMW rose 27 sen to RM5.54 while Serba Dinamik gained 17 sen to RM3.51.
Among oil refiners, Hengyuan dipped 50 sen to RM16.90 while Petron Malaysia fell 44 sen to RM13.20.
Aeon Credit dipped 12 sen to RM13.64, despite a morning report by Affin Hwang Capital Research that highlighted potential upsides for the retailer in 2018.
"Aeon’s share price has been trending down to -1 STD due to its earnings disappointment. We believe the worst is over as earnings recovery is likely to be extended into 2018 on the back of an improvement in retailing revenue and effective cost management," it said.
Meanwhile, oil supply continued to face the prospect of disruption as civil unrest in Iran continued to flare. US light crude rose 50 cents to US$62.13 a barrel while Brent crude gained 30 cents to US$68.14 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit was little changed against the US dollar at 4.0180, but gained 0.67% against the pound sterling at 5.4323 and strengthened 0.17% agains the Singapore dollar at 3.0210.
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