KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed firmer today, with gains mostly seen in banking and oil and gas counters led by Maybank, dealers said.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at 1,785.75, up 9.83 points or 0.55 per cent from yesterday’s close, after fluctuating between 1,788.99 and 1,783.53 throughout the day.

Maybank, the largest contributor to the rise with 1.572 points, saw its shares gain 1.01 per cent or 10 cents to RM10.00, with 5.671 million shares changing hands.

Gains on the bourse were also dominated by Petronas-related stocks, with Petronas Chemicals rising 10 cents to RM7.06 and Petronas Gas gaining 40 cents to RM22.50, with a total contribution of 2.867 points to the key index.

TA Securities Senior Technical Analyst Stephen Soo said the local market was traded in a “relief rally” as sentiment was up on positive reaction to signs that the US lawmakers were moving toward an agreement to increase the debt ceiling and avoid a default.

“Any news on the deadlock was certain to spark a relief rally in the markets,” he told Bernama adding that some profit taking was expected to emerge to limit gains in the near term.

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will be closed on Tuesday, Oct 15, in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidil Adha and will resume trading on Wednesday, Oct 16, 2013.    

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index increased 101.7 points to 16,691.8, the Industrial Index climbed 20.59 points to 3,068.06, and the Plantation Index advanced 22.92 points to 8,360.49.

The FBM Emas Index surged 60.99 points to 12,431.66, the FBMT100 chalked up 58.16 points to 12,163.41, the FBM 70 Index rose 31.56 points to 14,202.84 and the FBM ACE Index gained 45.77 points to 5,503.57. Market breadth was positive with gainers trouncing losers by 480 to 282, with 319 counters unchanged, 530 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Turnover slipped to 1.825 billion shares worth RM1.608 billion from 1.86 billion shares worth RM1.566 billion yesterday.         

Among actives, MAS and DBE Gurney both added one cent each to 35 cents and eight cents, respectively, while Hubline and The Media Shoppe were flat at 5.5 cents and 9.5 cents, respectively.

On heavyweights, CIMB rose seven cents to RM7.49, Sime Darby gained one cent to RM9.45 while Axiata Group shed one cent to RM6.91.           

Volume on the Main Market expanded to 1.322 billion shares worth RM1.512 billion from 1.265 billion shares worth RM1.45 billion yesterday.            

Turnover on the ACE market declined to 471.046 million units valued at RM91.814 million from yesterday’s 562.792 million units valued at RM112.355 million.

Total warrants increased to 29.928 million shares worth RM3.465 million from 28.656 million shares worth RM2.654 million previously.          

Consumer products accounted for 159.077 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 180.57 million, construction 56.565 million, trade and services 433.218 million, technology 117.441 million, infrastructure 59.663 million, SPAC 123.422 million, finance 46.599 million, hotels 2.181 million, properties 128.869 million, plantations 10.264 million, mining 32,600, REITs 4.674 million and closed/fund 115,600. — Bernama