Bursa Malaysia ends on a firm note

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended on a firm note today on buying support in heavyweight stocks due to positive sentiments brought on by the surge in oil prices, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at 1,626.44 points, 7.32 points higher from yesterday's close of 1,619.12, after moving between 1,619.99 and 1,628.62.
The index opened 1.98 points higher at 1,621.10.
The market breadth was positive as gainers overwhelmed losers 492 to 307 with 297 counters unchanged, 587 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Volume, however, fell to 1.53 billion shares worth RM1.60 billion from 1.89 billion shares worth RM3.23 billion on Wednesday.
A dealer said the local bourse tracked the Asian markets, which were broadly higher after major oil-producing nations signed a deal to cut output.
The international benchmark for oil prices, Brent crude, rose above US$52 (US$1 = RM4.46) a barrel today, after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day.
Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.12% to 18,513.12, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.39% to 22,878.23, South Korea's Kospi improved 0.01% to 1,983.75 and Singapore's Straits Times went up 0.54% to 2,920.76.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM7.79, Public Bank gained six sen to RM19.64 and Petronas Chemicals improved three sen to RM6.86.
TNB eased six sen to RM13.98 and IHH Healthcare fell 18 sen to RM6.42.
Among actives, Hibiscus Petroleum rose two sen to 29.5 sen, KNM Group added 2.5 sen to 33.5 sen, Bumi Armada increased 3.5 sen to 54.5 sen and SapuraKencana advanced six sen to RM1.50.
Sumatec Resources was flat at 5.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index climbed 35.23 points to 11,391.03, FBMT100 Index gained 32.37 points to 11,124.39, FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 16.32 points to 11,917.51 and the FBM Ace jumped 88.56 points to 4,801.81.
The FBM 70 fell 26.16 points to 13,107.13.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 63.67 points to 14,259.74, Industrial Index surged 19.83 points to 3,074.14 and the Plantation Index improved 1.45 points to 7,678.22.
Main Market turnover decreased to 972.55 million units worth RM1.52 billion from yesterday's 1.47 billion units worth RM3.17 billion.
The ACE Market volume rose to 264.55 million shares valued at RM29.15 million from 205.15 million shares valued at RM29.43 million on Wednesday.
Warrants increased to 284.69 million units worth RM48.11 million compared with 211.88 million units worth RM37.55 million yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 57.57 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (264.40 million), construction (45.18 million), trade and services (411.65 million), technology (53.13 million), infrastructure (7.90 million), SPAC (17.32 million), finance (37.70 million), hotels (200,200), properties (39.10 million), plantations (31.67 million), mining (nil), REITs (6.71 million) and closed/fund (1,500).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM162.50 per gramme, up RM2.59 from RM165.09 at 5pm last yesterday. — Bernama