KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed off best after breaching an all-time high of 1,851.94 points at 3pm, boosted by window-dressing activities by fund managers, a dealer said.

The FBM KLCI ended at 1,850.9, up 13.02 points or 0.7 per cent from yesterday’s close of 1,837.88 points amid the uncertain global environment.

The barometer index, which opened lower this morning, fluctuated between 1,837.22 points and 1,851.94 points throughout the day.

Market rally pushed the index to breach new all-time highs several times today surpassing the previous record of 1,846.92 points registered on December 10.

Axiata Group, Petronas Gas and Petronas Chemicals contributed 4.299 points to the index’s rise today.

Maybank Investment Bank Regional Chartist Lee Cheng Hooi said index-linked counters gained on buying interest ahead of the new year.

“Low volume window-dressing activity helped spur the interest with a lot of counters moving up. Large-cap stocks led the movement,” he told Bernama.

Lee said the uptrend in regional markets and the positive overnight performance on Wall Street also impacted Bursa Malaysia.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index soared 79.98 points to 16,870, the Industrial Index rose 31.72 points to 3,119.47 and the Plantation Index advanced 45.88 points to 9,035.4.

The FBM Emas Index surged 81.2 points to 12,758.73, FBMT100 Index bolstered 82.24 points to 12,492.88, the FBM 70 clinched 69.53 points to 14,118.52 and the FBM Ace improved 23.51 points to 5,666.24.

Gainers thumped losers 388 to 362, with 335 counters unchanged, 483 untraded and 30 others were suspended.

Volume slipped to 1.081 billion shares, worth RM1.545 billion, from yesterday’s 1.148 billion shares worth RM1.49 billion.

Among actives, Daya Materials gained 2.5 sen to 40 sen, Xideland Holdings inched up half-a-sen to 38 sen while Tiger Synergy shed half-a-sen to 22.5 sen.

Of heavyweights, Axiata Group chalked up 12 sen to RM6.87, Maybank rose four sen to RM10.02, TNB perked two sen to RM11.02, CIMB earned three sen to RM7.72 but Sime Darby shed one sen to RM9.56.

Volume on the Main Market declined to 837.447 million units, worth RM1.473 billion, from 877.111 million units, worth RM1.409 billion, recorded yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE market slipped to 201.64 million shares, valued at RM59.834 million, from yesterday’s 230.415 million shares valued at RM66.455 million.

Warrants narrowed to 34.358 million units, worth RM6.208 million, from 25.118 million units, worth RM3.458 million, transacted previously.

Consumer products accounted for 88.435 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 106.79 million, construction 41.34 million, trade and services 300.581 million, technology 26.605 million, infrastructure 25.75 million, SPAC 33.333 million, finance 92.170 million, hotels 263,300, properties 95.766 million, plantations 18.667 million, mining 24,100, REITs 7.709 million and closed/fund 7,000. — Bernama