KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed off their intraday low today and ended 0.28 per cent higher, lifted by gains in heavyweights.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 5.12 points to 1,812.72 after hovering between 1,804.27 and 1,812.72 during the entire trading session.

Among heavyweights, Petronas Dagangan soared 76 sen to RM31.20, Petronas Gas surged 26 sen to RM23.86, Hong Leong Financial rose 16 sen to RM15.82 and PPB Group gained 14 sen to RM14.86.

A dealer said despite the lack of market direction as there was no overnight lead from Wall Street, the local equities market remained steady on global market strength.

However, losers led gainers by 402 to 347 on profit taking, with 315 counters unchanged, 524 untraded and 44 others suspended.

Total turnover declined to 1.19 billion shares worth RM1.52 billion from 1.28 billion shares worth RM1.35 billion yesterday.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index gained 30.4 points to 16,675.65, the Industrial Index rose 13.86 points to 3,153.83 and the Plantation Index was 30.39 points better at 8,880.05.

The FBM Emas Index increased 21.11 points to 12,572.04, the FBMT100 Index advanced 23.55 points to 12,302.33 while the FBM 70 shed 19.02 points to 14,181.25 and the FBM Ace fell 38.33 points to 5,592.51.

Among actives, XOX rose one sen to 17 sen while Sumatec and Tiger Synergy remained unchanged at 30.5 sen and 22 sen, respectively.

As for heavyweights, Maybank gained 10 sen to RM9.78, Sime Darby added two sen to RM9.65 while CIMB shed one sen to RM7.58.

Volume on the Main Market fell to 896.09 million shares worth RM1.45 billion from 918.76 million shares worth RM1.23 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE market decreased to 248.09 million shares worth RM56.15 million from 326.45 million shares worth RM98.13 million yesterday.

Warrants expanded to 39.52 million units worth RM3.16 million from 31.98 million units valued at RM3.5 million.

Consumer products accounted for 82.34 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 125.99 million, construction 55.04 million, trade and services 394.15 million, technology 29.13 million, infrastructure 16.17 million, SPAC 20.67 million, finance 49.49 million, hotels 515,200, properties 101.62 million, plantations 16.46 million, mining 71.100, REITs 4.38 million and closed/fund 16,000. — Bernama