KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended higher today, recouping early losses following late buying in consumer and selected large cap stocks, dealers said.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index stood at 1,850.73, up 3.86 points, after opening 9.3 points lower at 1,837.57.

The benchmark index hovered between 1,837.57 and 1.850.73 throughout the day.

The market kicked off on a steady note despite the weak overnight closing on Wall Street which fell 4.76 points or 0.03 per cent.

“The March quarterly window dressing activities spurred the FBM KLCI to go higher,” a dealer said.

The market also moved in tandem with other regional markets following dovish statement from the People’s Bank Of China.

The China government would gradually roll out targeted monetary stimulus measures to aid the economy, the dealer said.

Gainers outpaced losers 382 to 380, while 325 counters were unchanged, 535 untraded and 30 others suspended.

Turnover declined to 1.8 billion shares worth RM2.03 billion from 2.05 billion shares valued at RM2.05 billion yesterday.

On the scoreboard, the Industrial Index rose 10.21 points to 3,204.63, the Finance Index added 16.20 points to 16,608.64 but the Plantation Index increased 116.11 points to 9,038.13.

The FBM Emas Index surged 30.64 points to 12,787.92, the FBMT100 Index rose 32.98 points to 12,450.26, the FBM Ace fell 12.19 points to 6,698.64 and the FBM 70 added 64.24 points to 13,912.23.

Among actives, Malaysian Airline System lost half-a-sen to 20.5 sen, Green Packet fell five sen to 47 sen but Xidelang gained 1.5 sen to 30.5 sen.

As for heavyweights, Maybank gained one sen to RM9.66, Tenaga lost 14 sen to RM11.98 and CIMB went up one sen to RM7.17.

Main market volume declined to 1.41 billion units valued at RM1.89 billion from 1.56 billion units worth RM1.87 billion on Thursday.

Turnover on the ACE market decreased to 293.47 million shares worth RM89.58 million from yesterday’s 347.52 million shares valued at RM120.62 million.

Warrants slipped to 96.23 million units valued at RM46.35 million from 141.27 million units worth RM48.99 million previously.         

Consumer products accounted for 141.58 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 251.11 million, construction 60.97 million, trade and services 492.39 million, technology 146.57 million, infrastructure 16.41 million, SPAC 17.94 million, finance 88.8 million, hotels 183,600, properties 174.5 million, plantations 16.23 million, mining 32,500, REITs 5.92 million and closed/fund 105,800. — Bernama