KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Bursa Malaysia snapped a six-day losing streak to end higher today, buoyed by buying in selected heavyweights following positive momentum sparked by a rally on Wall Street overnight, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 11.29 points to 1,634.13, after moving between 1,628.76 and 1,638.37 throughout the day.

A dealer said news that oil prices would likely pick up next year had boosted the US stock market, with strong gains in energy equities, signalling a stable economy in the US and other countries.

Earlier, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri was reported as saying that global crude oil prices at seven-year lows would not continue and could swing upwards.

Brent crude oil was up 49 cents, or 1.29 per cent, at US$38.41 (RM165) a barrel from US$36.20 on Monday.

Meanwhile, in a statement today, Nertherlands-based ABN AMRO Research said it expected the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to raise interest rates by 25 basis points from near zero at present.

“We think that the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on December 15-16 will continue to convey that economic activity is expanding at a modest pace.

“However, it will be adjusted to signal that the labour market is strong, in contrast to the slow pace of job gains mentioned in the October statement,” the research house said.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose 13 sen to RM8.31, Tenaga gained six sen to RM12.88 and Public Bank eased two sen to RM18.22.

Among actives, XOX rose 5.5 sen to 22.5 sen, APFT inched up two sen to 25.5 sen and Red Sena was half-a-sen better at 38.5 sen.

Market breadth was positive as advancers outpaced decliners by 525 to 292, while 341 counters were unchanged, 596 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 1.67 billion shares worth RM1.76 billion from yesterday’s 1.43 billion shares worth RM1.66 billion.

The FBM Emas Index rose 90.09 points to 11,430.18, the FBMT100 Index gained 87.03 points to 11,104.97 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 109.10 points to 12,337.18.

The FBM 70 advanced 138.29 points to 12,825.76 while the FBM Ace was 75.32 points higher at 6,317.52.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index perked 15.95 points to 3,173.90, Plantation Index gained 40.08 points to 7,337.60 and the Finance Index added 67.21 points to 13,977.79.

Main Market volume rose to 1.67 billion units worth RM1.77 billion from yesterday's 930.52 million units worth RM1.56 billion.

Turnover on the ACE Market improved to 389.26 million shares valued at RM96.21 million versus 257.09 million shares valued at RM63.02 million.

Warrants fell to 212.44 million units worth RM41.91 million against 239.77 million units worth RM39.45 million.

Consumer products accounted for 116.34 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (301.57 million), construction (31.84 million), trade and services (347.21 million), technology (28.09 million), infrastructure (15.51 million), SPAC (103.39 million), finance (31.72 million), hotels (1.07 million), properties (72.94 million), plantations (15.96 million), mining (0), REITs (3.09 million) and closed/fund (34,500). — Bernama