KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — Bursa Malaysia ended higher today on the back of stronger global share markets, dealers said. 

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 3.81 points to 1,666.73 against yesterday’s close of 1,662.92.  The index opened 1.03 points higher at 1,663.95 and moved between 1,662.72 and 1,668.32 throughout the day. 

However, losers led gainers by 402 to 355 while 424 counters were unchanged, 478 untraded and 25 others suspended.

Volume rose to 1.79 billion units worth RM1.73 billion from 1.62 billion units worth RM2.15 billion yesterday.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice President/Head of Retail Research, Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan, said the Deutsche Bank issue, which has clouded equity markets, has eased.

The German lender was fined US$14 billion by the US Justice Department over the selling of mortgage-backed securities.

"The benchmark Brent crude hit over US$50 (US$1 = RM4.13) a barrel and this is good news for oil and gas companies like Petronas,” he told Bernama.  On the home front, Nazri Khan said, the 2017 Budget has also started to come into play.

He said some construction and construction-related stocks were already rallying ahead of the 2017 Budget, scheduled on Oct 21, 2016. 

"Companies like Gadang Holdings Bhd, Econpile Holdings Bhd and those related to the mass rapid transit and light rail transit projects are expected to benefit under the 2017 Budget,” he said.

Among heavyweights, TNB added two sen to RM14.36 and Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals advanced four sen each to RM19.96 and RM6.68 respectively.  Maybank and IHH Healthcare rose five sen each to RM7.70 and RM6.55 respectively.

Of the actives, newly-listed Perak Transit perked six sen to 21 sen, Perisai Petroleum Teknologi eased one sen to 7.5 sen and AT Systematization fell half-a-sen to seven sen.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index gained 12.36 points to 11,772.99 and the FBMT100 Index increased 13.42 points to 11,477.46.  The FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 18.03 points to 12,412.76.  The FBM Ace shed 21.51 points to 5,162.13 and the FBM 70 slid 30.14 points to 13,804.55.

On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index eased 1.82 points to 3,125.12 and the Plantation Index lost 35.24 points to 7,851.23. The Finance Index rose 27.20 points to 14,312.44 Main market turnover decreased to 1.03 billion shares worth RM1.61 billion from 1.07 billion shares worth RM2.08 billion yesterday. 

The ACE Market volume perked to 534.53 million units valued at RM74.79 million from 294.06 million units valued at RM29.39 million yesterday. 

Warrants increased to 232.39 million shares worth RM43.31 million against 254.52 million shares worth RM45.16 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 64.14 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (239.49 million), construction (62.54 million), trade and services (448.33 million), technology (22.11 million), infrastructure (15.95 million), SPAC (21.73 million), finance (45.87 million), hotels (392,000), properties (70.19 million), plantations (19.29 million), mining (1,000), REITs (20.92 million) and closed/fund (68,700). — Bernama