KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended today’s trading in positive territory, supported by consistent buying momentum in selected blue chip counters, dealers said.

The FBM KLCI emerged 6.65 points to close at 1,724.21, with the key index moving between 1,715.98 and 1,727.94 throughout the day.

It opened 0.79 of a point better at 1,718.35.

Gains in Tenaga Nasional, Maxis and Axiata have pushed the composite index up by a total of 5.874 points.

Elsewhere in the region, market breadth was healthy — Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 219.24 points to 22,394.58, Japan’s Nikkei rose 405.52 points to 13,978.44, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index went up 0.54 of a point to 3,056.26.

A dealer said sentiments were boosted by positive manufacturing reports around the world which did not give an indication that the richest countries are finally shaking off the after-effects of the financial crisis.

"British manufacturing order books and output grew at their fastest in almost two decades while China, which has suffered a year-long contraction in manufacturing output, saw activity expanding in August," he said.

Another dealer said the regional markets also responded well to the easing geopolitical tension in Syria.

Among actives, Pelikan Int Corp gained 14.5 sen to 50 sen, Malaysia Airlines earned one sen to 32.5 sen, China Stationery added 2.5 sen to 23.5 sen while Pesona Metro was flat at 45 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM10.02, Axiata advanced nine sen to RM6.75, CIMB earned one sen to RM7.19 but Sime Darby eased one sen to RM9.40.

Gainers trounced losers 436 to 274, with 299 counters unchanged, 558 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.36 billion shares worth RM1.51 billion against 1.08  billion shares worth RM1.2 billion yesterday.

On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index erased 3.83 points to 8,160.93, the Industrial Index slipped 1.64 points to 2,888.83 but the Finance Index surged 65.5 points to 16,158.75.

The FBM Emas Index was 60.3 points better at 11,955.9, the FBMT100 perked 57.45 points to 11,718.08, the FBM 70 Index chalked up 117.26 points to 13,575.28 and the FBM ACE Index garnered 21.28 points to 4,905.17. — Bernama