KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia closed higher today, propped up by buying sentiment as traders took the opportunity of the  market's weakness amid expectation of a further monetary stimulus in China, dealers said.

At 5pm today, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.41 points to 1,803.02, after hovering between 1,795.16 and 1,803.68 throughout the day.

A dealer said after two consecutive days of losses, buying interest emerged to lift the local stock market in tandem with the regional bourses.

He said Asian shares advanced as investors focused on hopes of a further stimulus from Beijing to prevent a sharper slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 30.98 points to 12,440.66, the FBMT100 Index improved 27.49 points to 12,116.8 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index increased 29.1 points to 12,124.18.

The FBM Ace jumped 85.24 points at 6,974.76 and the FBM 70 expanded 20.83 points to 13,495.48.

The Finance Index erased 18.29 points to 16,008.26 while the Industrial Index climbed 8.52 points to 3,266.58 and the Plantation Index chalked up 68.33 points to 7,486.11.

Gainers led losers 420 to 355, with 323 counters unchanged, 687 counters

Total volume was slightly higher at 1.68 billion units worth RM2 billion from yesterday's 1.62 billion units worth RM1.7 billion.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank and TNB lost two sen each to RM9.26 and RM13.80 respectively, Public Bank eased six sen to RM19.18 and Axiata erased three sen to RM6.73.

Sime Darby went up nine sen to RM9.04.

Among actives, Kanger lost 2.5 sen to 23.5 sen, Frontken eased half-a-sen to 26.5 sen and UEM Sunrise erased five sen to RM1.27.

Scan Associates bagged half-a-sen to five sen while Vsolar was flat at 15.5 sen.

Main Market volume increased to 927.28 million shares worth RM1.8 billion from 852.59 million shares worth RM1.5 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE Market expanded to 643.78 million shares valued at RM163.29 million from 614.04 million shares valued at RM128.75 million yesterday.

Warrants shrank to 115.95 million units worth RM39.84 million from 158.72 million units worth RM65.62 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 55.95 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (211.02 million), construction (53.4 million), trade and services (368.13 million), technology (54.81 million), infrastructure (20.37 million), SPAC (12.27 million), finance (42.5 million), hotels (765,300), properties (81.06 million), plantations (19.77 million), mining (50,000), REITs (7.07 million) and closed/fund (64,500). — Bernama