Free Malaysia Today - Free and Independent

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed higher today, boosted by continued buying in selected blue chips as well as lower liners, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 3.22 points or 0.24% to close at 1,358.41, to stay high for the fifth straight day.

It had opened 0.59 of a point higher at 1,355.78 in the morning and traded at between an intra-day high of 1,359.27 and a low of 1,353.16 during the session.

A dealer said late gains in most regional markets had prompted buying interest in the local market.

He also said the local market traded mixed in the early session today on some profit-taking activities as investors took cue from a weaker overnight Wall Street.

However, persistent buying in selected heavyweights, especially in afternoon session, helped the key index stay above the 1,350-point level.

At close, the Finance Index eased 6.64 points to 12,334.58, the Plantation Index declined 6.30 points to 6,410.64 and the Industrial Index slipped 23.35 points to 2,649.83.

The FBM Emas Index gained 23.28 points to 9,201.65, the FBM70 Index increased 28.64 points to 9,202.98 and the FBM Ace Index added 4.55 points to 3,803.73.

Advancers led decliners by 386 to 345 while 279 counters were unchanged, 358 untraded and 27 others suspended.

Volume increased to 999.630 million shares valued at RM1.481 billion from 847.160 million shares worth RM1.251 billion yesterday.

Among active stocks, Time dotCom inched up 1.5 sen to 60.5 sen, Axiata rose 16 sen to RM4.31 and Eastern & Oriental added six sen to RM1.15.

Among top gainers, Measat Global rose 27 sen to RM4.07, Petronas Dagangan increased 23 sen to RM10.20 and DiGi.Com added 22 sen to RM24.68.

For the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM7.70 while CIMB Group fell four sen to RM7.45.

Sime Darby lost seven sen to RM7.69 and Maxis slipped one sen to RM5.31.

The Main Market volume increased to 904.895 million shares valued at RM1.461 billion from 759.561 million shares worth RM1.234 billion yesterday.

The volume of warrants rose to 50.583 million shares worth RM7.924 million compared with 29.511 million units valued at RM4.103 million previously.

Turnover on the ACE Market, however, declined to 33.708 million shares worth RM5.529 million versus 52.326 million shares valued at RM9.379 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 91.676 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 154.943 million, construction 68.782 million, trade and services 268.680 million, technology 45.917 million, infrastructure 47.994 million, finance 70.277 million, hotels 6.254 million, properties 120.960 million, plantations 15.579 million, mining 87,000, REITs 13.665 million, and closed/fund 82,700.

- Bernama