KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI jumped 1.6% while volume across Bursa Malaysia exceeded 2.7 billion shares amid certainty on Malaysia's 15th general election (GE15) timing.
The Election Commission announced earlier that GE15's polling date will be on Nov 19, with early voting set for Nov 15 while the nomination date is on Nov 5.
At 5pm, the market barometer jumped 22.62 points, or 1.6% to 1,437.72, its intraday high.
In the broader market, gainers outnumbered laggards 493-to-365. Activities were encouraging with 2.7 billion shares worth RM2.6bil changed hands.
Dealers said the local bourse is moving ahead strongly as GE15’s date is now certain.
Among the gainers on Bursa Malaysia, Hextar Technologies jumped RM2 to RM9.10, Nestle rose RM1.30 to RM134, Heineken added 78 sen to RM23.68 and Carlsberg gained 64 sen to RM22.84.
Malaysian Pacific Industries
tumbled RM1.08 to RM25.16, Dutch Lady shed 74 sen to RM30.56, British American Tobacco lost 28 sen to RM10 and Ayer declined 25 sen to RM5.95.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.7290 against the greenback, down 0.19%.
Regional markets closed broadly lower today. The Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 1.4% to settle at 16,280.22, while the Shanghai Composite was down a marginal 0.31% to 3,035.05.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 also slid 0.92% to 27,006.96 while South Korea’s Kospi index closed down 0.86% to 2,218.09.
US West Texas Intermediate crude rose US$1.36 to US$86.91 and Brent added 99 cents to US$93.40 per barrel.
