KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher on Tuesday as easing concerns over U.S. tariffs boosted investor interest, with the prospect of milder-than-expected tariffs renewing optimism.
The FBM KLCI gained 9.78 points, or 0.65%, to close at 1,513.60 after hitting an intraday high of 1,515.87.
Gainers led losers 531 to 395, while 433 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 3.13 billion shares valued at RM2.5bil.
Among the gainers, Nestle rose 78 sen to RM69.28, Malaysian Pacific Industries
added 54 sen to RM18.54, Heineken gained 44 sen to RM27.04 and Carlsberg climbed 30 sen to RM19.06.
Ayer lost 20 sen to RM7.30, Kuala Lumpur Kepong declined 12 sen to RM20.82, Icapital.Biz fell 11 sen to RM2.39 and Arka gave up 11 sen to RM1.69.
Meanwhile, ACE Market debutant Wawasan Dengkil closed down two sen, or 8% to 23 sen with 38.96 million shares traded.
Stock market data showed that foreign investors sold a net RM284mil on Monday. Local institutions and retailers were net buyers, with RM257mil and RM27mil, respectively.
On the forex market, the ringgit fell 0.07% against the US dollar to 4.4380 but gained 0.08% against the Singapore dollar at 3.3149.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.59%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.46% to 37,780.54 while South Korea’s Kospi closed down 0.62% at 2,615.81.
