KUALA LUMPUR: Continued buying in index-linked stocks boosted Bursa Malaysia, resulting to a higher close today, in line with the performance of its regional peers.
The FBM KLCI advanced 12.02 points, or 0.78% to 1,559.59 after hitting an intraday high of 1,559.94.
Bursa Malaysia saw 3.5 billion shares, worth RM2.5bil, traded across the exchange. There were 764 gainers, 331 decliners and 420 closed unchanged.
In today’s session, KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly in the positive, with 26 gainers, three decliners and one closed unchanged.
Market sentiment improved today, according to dealers, though they cautioned that the sustainability of these gains remains uncertain.
Keyfield International, which debut on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia today was the top gainer on Bursa Mlaaysia. The counter surged RM1.03, or 114.44% to RM1.93, from its initial public offering price of 90 sen a share.
Nestle rose 70 sen to RM124.70, Heineken gained 64 sen to RM23.04, United Plantations added 30 sen to RM25.70 and Dutch Lady
advanced 30 sen to RM33.10.
Among the losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries slid 76 sen to RM30.34, BLD Plantation fell 12 sen to RM10.88, PETRONAS Dagangan lost 12 sen to RM21.54 and PIE Industrial declined 10 sen to RM5.65.
On the external front, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan index was higher by 09%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.77%, South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.45% and China’s CSI300 index fell 0.3%.
