KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — Bursa Malaysia ended the week higher today, helped by buying support in consumer- and trade/service-related stocks, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 13.62 points, or 0.82 per cent, to close at 1,668.4 from 1,654.78 yesterday.

The index opened 5.68 points better at 1,660.46 and moved between 1,659.4 and 1,668.4 throughout the day.

Among consumer-related stocks, Nestle was the top gainer. It rose by RM2.98 to RM79.98.

F&N increased by 22 sen to RM26.22, Dutch Lady jumped 20 sen to RM61.00 and Kawan Food surged 16 sen to RM3.62.

For trade/service stocks, DKSH rose 26 sen to RM4.51 and Genting and Axiata improved by 22 sen each to RM26.22 and RM5.70, respectively.

Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd Research Head, Pong Teng Siew, said it was a good end to the week.

The climb in the index was sparked by the overnight policy rate reduction by Bank Negara Malaysia, he said.

On OPR, Pong said, it shall not impact the credit market.

It would, however, would benefit the public with borrowings, he said.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners by 476 to 310, 364 counters were unchanged, 570 untraded and 44 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.89 billion shares worth RM1.91 billion from 1.57 billion shares worth RM1.89 billion yesterday.

The FBM Emas Index rose by 74.28 points to 11,657.87, FBMT100 Index surged 75.15 points to 11,360.08 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was up 70.1 points to 12,228.11.

The FBM 70 added 23.1 points to 13,197.51 while the FBM Ace was 70.71 points higher at 5,482.8.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index rose by 11.47 points to 3,140.55, Plantation Index gained 8.39 points to 7,531.31 and the Finance Index was up 84.6 points to 14,252.12.

Among heavyweights, Maybank was up 15 sen to RM8.17, IHH Healthcare rose one sen to RM6.65 and Petronas Chemicals improved nine sen to RM6.69.

TNB was flat at RM14.30.

Of the actives, Nexgram and Trive Property rose by half-a-sen each to 5.5 sen and nine sen, respectively, while Borneo Oil, Hiap Teck Venture and Vivocom were flat at 18.5 sen, 25.5 sen and 26 sen, respectively.

The Main Market turnover rose to 1.16 billion units worth RM1.78 billion from yesterday’s 1.15 billion units worth RM1.79 billion.

ACE Market volume rose to 457.85 million shares valued at RM87.59 million from 201.18 million shares valued at RM53.31 million yesterday.

Warrants improved to 269.35 million units worth RM39.65 million from 214.75 million units worth RM37.32 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 53.27 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (273.82 million), construction (71.23 million), trade and services (500.06 million), technology (102.33 million), infrastructure (9.85 million), SPAC (9.2 million), finance (38.09 million), hotels (355,600), properties (47.92 million), plantations (38.32 million), mining (7,000), REITs (14.33 million) and closed/fund (11,000). — Bernama