Share prices close on firm note

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed on a firm note in buoyant trading today with the benchmark index surging forward as the market reacted positively to the stable outlook status accorded by Fitch Ratings on the Malaysian economy.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI finished at 1,727.96, up by 21.32 points, or 1.24 per cent, after moving between 1,709.77 and 1,737.67 throughout the day.
The US-based ratings agency affirmed Malaysia's long-term foreign currency rating at 'A-' and revised upwards its outlook to 'stable' from 'negative'.
Trading was active with investors heaving a sigh of relief at the sturdy outcome as the market has been in the doldrums for days as to what the international rating agency would decide.
Fitch Ratings attached a "negative" outlook to Malaysia in July 2013 and suggested earlier this year there was a chance of a rating downgrade for this year.
Meanwhile, Shan Saeed, Chief Economist of international property and investment company, IQI Holdings, said the country's economy remained intact.
"As far as the growth model is concern, investors are still looking at Malaysia very positively in terms of investments and growth," he told Bernama.
Of the heavyweights, MISC rose 41 sen to RM8.13, Digi was up 17 sen to RM5.53, IHH Healthcare added 22 sen to RM5.85 and Sime Darby increased 15 sen to RM8.67.
Market breadth was positive with gainers thumping losers by 678 to 192, with 251 counters unchanged, 685 untraded and 35 others were suspended.
Total volume firmed to 1.94 billion units worth RM2.17 billion from Tuesday's 1.75 billion units worth RM2.25 billion.
Among the actives, Connectcounty eased three sen 27.5 sen, while Vsolar and KNM were each flat at 12.5 sen and 62 sen, respectively.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 163.85 points to 11,935.80, FBMT100 Index advanced 159.02 points to 11,617.77, FBM Emas Syariah surged 221.00 points to 12,429.85, FBM 70 jumped 235.40 points to 12,962.52 and the FBM Ace climbed 156.66 points to 6,376.95.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index rose by 137.05 points to 15,569.61, Plantation Index increased 72.53 points to 7,341.06 and the Industrial Index was higher 63.81 points to 3,196.16.
Main Market volume increased to 1.07 billion shares worth RM1.95 billion from 1.04 billion shares worth RM2.04 billion on Tuesday.
Turnover on the ACE Market surged to 526.61 million units valued at RM147.90 million from 321.20 million units valued at RM91.96 million yesterday.
Warrants fell to 339.23 million shares worth RM77.85 million from 386.41 million shares worth RM114.03 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 63.55 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (259.71 million), construction (73.59 million), trade and services (452.67 million), technology (49.90 million), infrastructure (23.68 million), SPAC (7.80 million), finance (48.28 million), hotels (614.50 million), properties (64.48 million), plantations (14.60 million), mining (0), REITs (17.21 million) and closed/fund (48,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM136.58 per gramme, down RM1.51 from RM138.09 at 5pm yesterday. – Bernama