KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — Bursa Malaysia closed on a firmer note today on the back of buying support in selected heavyweights, particularly finance and trade/service-related counters, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished at 1,629.73, up 4.76 points from yesterday’s close of 1,624.97, after moving between 1,624.02 and 1,629.73.

The index opened 0.8 point weaker at 1,624.17.

Decliners led gainers by 409 to 304, with 368 counters unchanged, 617 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Volume, however, fell to 1.08 billion units valued at RM1.55 billion versus 1.13 billion units worth RM1.35 billion yesterday.

A dealer said that Bursa Malaysia’s firmer performance was in line with most Asian bourses, as well as the rise in crude oil prices.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.47 per cent to 18,360.54, South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.35 per cent to 1,989.86, Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.21 per cent to 2,949.36 but China’s Shanghai Composite went down 0.16 per cent to 3,199.65.

Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) said in a note the benchmark index is expected to trend higher today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average setting another trecord high as well as last week’s positive Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries deal.

"It bodes well for oil-exporting countries like Malaysia,” said HLIB.

It also said the improving ringgit outlook following stabilising oil prices and recent curbs by Bank Negara Malaysia on trading the ringgit in non-deliverable forward (NDF) markets coupled with the traditional year-end window dressing activities are expected to bode well for the local bourse to gain further strength towards the 1,635-1,640 point level in the near term.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM7.88, Public Bank improved 10 sen to RM19.62, Petronas Gas bagged 48 sen to RM21.32, CIMB was up one sen to RM4.64 while TNB declined two sen to RM14.00 and Sime Darby trimmed one sen to RM8.11.

As for actives, RGB International went half-a-sen up to 24.5 sen, APFT was down 1.5 sen to five sen, AirAsia declined six sen to RM2.54 while Hibiscus Petroleum and Trive Property trimmed half-a-sen each to 30.5 sen and nine sen, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index was up 19.33 points to 11,385.98, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 22.2 points to 11,122.49 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 14.59 points to 11,921.93.

The FBM 70 shed 11.31 points to 13,016.24 and the FBM Ace erased 13.7 points to 4,749.64.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index gained 39.52 points to 14,293.39, the Plantation Index edged up 6.05 points to 7,710.33 and the Industrial Index added 22.78 points to 3,083.29.

Main Market turnover enhanced to 764.97 million units worth RM1.49 billion from 762.02 million units worth RM1.28 billion yesterday.

The ACE Market volume declined to 150.14 million shares valued at RM22.23 million from 167.17 million shares valued at RM22.9 million.

Warrants decreased to 169.3 million units worth RM32.39 million from 204.81 million units worth RM44.15 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 32.47 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (154.04 million), construction (61.56 million), trade and services (352.73 million), technology (35.27 million), infrastructure (7.4 million), SPAC (5.72 million), finance (34.98 million), hotels (230,900), properties (34.83 million), plantations (18.95 million), mining (26,200), REITs (26.45 million) and closed/fund (271,700). — Bernama