Bursa Malaysia extends gains for 4th day running

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended gains for the fourth day today, spurred by persistent buying momentum in heavyweights, led by Maybank.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 3.12 points to 1,768.92 at the 5pm closing from Tuesday's close of 1,765.80.
The FBM KLCI posted an intraday high of 1,769.68 in early trade and moved within a 5.06-point range (intraday low: 1,764.62).
Volume shed to 3.55 billion units worth RM3.13 billion from the 3.65 billion units worth RM3.11 billion recorded yesterday.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers by 506 to 411 with 386 counters unchanged, 468 counters untraded and 53 others suspended.
A dealer said besides buying support in index-linked counters, rotational buying also seen at the second and low liners stocks.
"Lingering optimism on the European political front and the prospect of US tax reforms supported further gains for global stocks and this spilled over to Bursa Malaysia as well," he added.
Top weighted Maybank was the main contributor to the index, adding 11 sen to RM9.48, with 29.07 million shares traded.
Other leading movers were Genting Bhd, which gained 10 sen to RM9.96, Hong Leong Financial (HLF), up 32 sen to RM16.52, and IHH Healthcare improved four sen to RM6.14.
HLF was the top gainer for the day, while the top loser was Allianz, which fell 20 sen to RM11.30. Among actively-traded stocks, Key Alliance eased half-a-sen to seven sen, Iris added two sen to 21 sen, DNEX gained 4.5 sen to 60 sen, while AirAsia X eased one to 44 sen.
The FBM Emas Index rose 32.16 points to 12,610.37, the FBMT100 Index advanced 30.24 points to 12,240.63, the FBM 70 surged 69.60 points to 14,965.84, the FBM Emas Syariah Index improved 16.04 points to 12,949.60, while the FBM Ace soared 75.99 points to 6,187.80.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index bagged 70.89 points to 16,200.37, the Plantation Index climbed 0.35 of-a-point to 8,073.58, while the Industrial Index inched up 4.59 points to 3,227.87.
Main Market turnover eased to 2.31 million units worth RM2.93 billion from 2.52 million units worth RM2.96 billion on Tuesday.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 974.60 million shares worth RM171.97 million from yesterday's 705.83 million shares worth RM113.83 million.
Warrants shrank to 260.82 million units worth RM31.04 million from 408.94 million units worth RM42.80 million.
Consumer products accounted for 114.05 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (536.14 million), construction (146.71 million), trade and services (1.02 billion), technology (192.66 million), infrastructure (12.95 million), SPAC (1.19), finance (95.60 million), hotels (878,300 million), properties (164.09 million), plantations (17.53 million), mining (5,000), REITs (8.56 million), and closed/fund (48,100).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM171.01 per gramme, down RM1.57 from RM172.58 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama