Bursa Malaysia closes higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher today, continuing its positive momentum from last Friday, in line with regional markets, dealers said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished at 1,650.59, up 2.35 points from Friday's close of 1,648.24, after opening 4.79 points lower at 1,643.45.
The benchmark index moved between 1,643.07 and 1,654.34 throughout the day.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose 16 sen to RM7.83, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals decreased two sen each RM19.78 and RM6.94, respectively, while Genting added 19 sen to RM7.99.
TNB shares rose two sen to RM14.32 after the company completed its acquisition of a 30% stake in Indian power company GMR Energy Ltd for RM1.3 billion.
It was deemed a highly strategic investment that sought to harness the future value of India's large and supply constrained power market.
As for actives, RGB gained 2.5 sen to 24.5 sen, Netx and Asia Media increased half-a-sen each to 2.5 sen and 25.5 sen, respectively while AirAsia X was flat at 43 sen.
A dealer said the market sentiment was positive after S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'A-' long-term and 'A-2' short-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating on Malaysia.
This was due to the country's strong external position and considerable monetary policy flexibility.
Another dealer said most regional bourses were higher due to a rebound in oil prices as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members were committed to a deal made in September to trim output.
Brent crude was at US$46.12 per barrel, up 54 cents or 1.18%, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 61 cents or 1.38% at US$44.68 a barrel.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.70% to 22,801.4, South Korea's Seoul Composite Index rose 0.79% to 1,997.58 and Taiwan Weighted up 1.34% to 9,189.84.
However, the dealer said the investors would keep a close eye on the upcoming US presidential election for more clues over the market direction tomorrow.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 388 to 366 with 379 counters unchanged, 536 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Volume was higher at 1.48 billion units worth RM1.72 billion from 1.32 billion units worth RM1.61 billion on Friday.
The FBM Emas Index rose 9.39 points to 11,617.11, the FBMT 100 Index added 8.7 points to 11,324.50 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index eased 10.12 points to 12,221.84.
The FBM 70 declined 16.39 points to 13,469.79 and the FBM Ace fell 9.74 points to 4,968.93.
The Finance Index jumped 51.13 points to 14,310.63, the Industrial Index lost 5.73 points to 3,139.31, while the Plantation Index slipped 23.03 points to 7,754.40.
Main Market turnover improved to 1.008 billion units worth RM1.66 billion from 878.31 million units worth RM1.54 billion last Friday.
The ACE Market volume rose to 257.28 million shares valued at RM26.96 million from 191.66 million shares valued at RM25.80 million.
Warrants decreased to 216.04 million units worth RM40.02 million from 246.98 million units worth RM46.88 million.
Consumer products accounted for 55.02 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (185.21 million), construction (61.02 million), trade and services (414.56 million), technology (27.71 million), infrastructure (9.11 million), SPAC (123.29 million), finance (48.20 million), hotels (173,900), properties (45.42 million), plantations (25.66 million), mining (77,000), REITs (12.56 million) and closed/fund (8,000).

The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM168.50 per gramme, down RM1.71 from RM170.21 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama