KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — Bursa Malaysia ended on a positive note on perpetual buying support as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) announced a 25 basis points cut in its key lending rate to 3.0 per cent. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.42 points to 1,660.39 from yesterday’s close of 1,653.97.

The index opened 0.46 of-a-point easier at 1,653.51 and fluctuated between 1,652.07 and 1,660.39 throughout the day.

Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd Research Head Edmund Tham said the reduction of 25 basis points by the central bank would promote investment and encourage spending.

"Interest would go down and this would encourage consumers to take out new loans. However, there is also the question of how lenient banks would be with their approval,” he told Bernama today.

Tham said the local bourse was also affected by the impact of Britain’s vote to exit the European Union (Brexit), as the appointment of Theresa May as prime minister today, might have an impact throughout global markets.

Asian bourses are also reporting commendable gains, on a probable stimulus by the Bank of Japan and Bank of England.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 135.78 points to 16,231.43, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 97.63 points to 21,322.37 and Singapore’s Straits Times Composite improved 8.83 points to 2,910.65.

Domestically, top gainers included Panasonic, which increased RM1.16 to RM32.64, Ajinomoto was up 48 sen to RM13.18 and UOA Development perked 30 sen to RM2.49.

On the scoreboard, market breadth was positive as advancers thumped decliners 523 to 280, with 340 counters unchanged, 577 untraded and 19 others were suspended.

Volume expanded to 1.7 billion shares, valued at RM2.36 billion, from 1.39 billion shares, valued at RM1.58 billion, recorded yesterday.

The FBM Emas Index surged 74.09 points to 11,612.1, the FBMT100 Index gained 69.73 points to 11,315.65 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index soared 96.97 points to 12,193.88. The FBM 70 added 176.18 points to 13,182.81 and the FBM Ace was 76.44 points higher at 5,331.89.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index added 15.41 points to 3,145.1, the Plantation Index increased 5.4 points to 7,564.16 but the Finance Index declined 15.16 points to 14,259.08.

Among heavyweights, TNB and Petronas Chemicals perked eight sen each to RM14.32 and RM6.60, respectively, Public Bank improved four sen to RM19.40, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.65 and Maybank was down eight sen to RM8.12.

As for actives, Vivocom and Hiap Teck Ventures were up 1.5 sen each to 27 sen and 22 sen, respectively, AirAsia rose four sen at RM2.75, Borneo Oil added half-a-sen to 18.5 sen and AirAsia X improved one sen to 40 sen.

Main Market turnover improved to 1.12 billion shares, worth RM2.25 billion, from yesterday’s 903.92 million shares worth RM1.48 billion. ACE Market volume rose to 311.13 million shares, valued at RM72.56 million, from 262.28 million shares, valued at RM56.86 million, recorded yesterday.

Warrants increased to 269.13 million units, worth RM43.35 million, from yesterday’s 230.09 million units worth RM43.14 million.

Consumer products accounted for 49.87 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (197.21 million), construction (42.96 million), trade and services (485.94 million), technology (59.03 million), infrastructure (27.58 million), SPAC (5.69 million), finance (65.2 million), hotels (423,800), properties (140.08 million), plantations (17.07 million), mining (nil), REITs (29.01 million) and closed/fund (11,000). — Bernama