KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 — Bursa Malaysia closed on a firm note today backed by a bounce in oil prices and upbeat Malaysia's trade surplus for the first six months of 2016, dealers said.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed at 1,664.04, up 8.75 points from Thursday's close of 1,655.29, led by trade and services as well as industrial stocks.

The index opened 0.05 of-a-point lower at 1,655.24.

Gainers trounced losers 444 to 332 while 367 counters were unchanged, 543 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Volume increased to 2.17 billion units worth RM1.95 billion from 2.05 billion units worth RM1.53 billion yesterday.

US crude oil prices settled 2.7 per cent higher at US$41.93 a barrel, a day after rising more than three per cent amid a drawdown in gasoline inventories while international benchmark, Brent crude was up 2.67 per cent to US$44.25 a barrel.

The rally in crude oil prices have lifted investors risk appetite.

Forex Time Vice-President of Market Research Jameel Ahmad said sentiment in the Malaysian economy should receive a boost following the unexpected growth in exports of 3.4 per cent for June.

"This should help provide optimism for various reasons, for one, the higher demand for Malaysian goods should help offset the concerns over the uncertain external environment having a negative impact on the Malaysian economy," he said.

Another dealer said investors in the region were grappling with uncertainties in the absence of positive news flow and in anticipation of the US jobs data that will be released tonight.

"Investors were mostly kept at bay as they are awaiting the US jobs report to gauge the health of the US economy," he told Bernama.

The local equity market also took the cue from the higher regional markets as sentiment improved after the Bank of England slashed interest rates from 0.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent and announced billions of pounds of stimulus to soften the economic shock from Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Among trade and services counters, TNB gained two sen to RM14.42, IHH Healthcare rose four sen to RM6.53, Axiata added three sen to RM5.70, Sime Darby perked two sen to RM7.60 and Maxis increased six sen to RM6.15.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank advanced seven sen to RM8.0, Petronas Chemicals put on four sen to RM6.60 but Public Bank fell two sen to RM19.58.

Among gainers, United Plantations soared 62 sen to RM27.20, Nestle and PPB Group were 28 sen higher at RM79.68 and RM16.18 respectively, Batu Kawan gained 24 sen to RM18.00 and IOI Corp added 22 sen to RM4.45.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 55.55 points to 11,677.36, the FBMT100 Index increased 57.04 points to 11,378.09 and the FBM 70 added 57.04 points to 13,392.89.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 56.06 points to 12,291.80 and the FBM Ace rose 12.10 points to 5,420.18.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index surged 88.30 points to 14,267.76, the Industrial Index increased 10.73 points to 3,120.28 and the Plantation Index jumped 137.13 points to 7,696.71.

Main Market turnover increased to 1.27 billion shares worth RM1.83 billion from 1.14 billion shares worth RM1.41 billion recorded yesterday.

The ACE Market volume swelled to 418.76 million units worth RM68.12 million from yesterday's 321.50 million units worth RM48.58 million.            

Warrants declined to 479.57 million shares worth RM54.02 million from 594.40 million shares worth RM68.56 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 49.60 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (207.13 million), construction (69.58 million), trade and services (478.03 million), technology (198.48 million), infrastructure (11.26 million), SPAC (11.76 million), finance (151.86 million), hotels (817,700), properties (44.02 million), plantations (35.35 million), mining(2,000), REITs (12.38 million) and closed/fund (28,500). — Bernama