KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed on a positive note today, boosted by continued gains on selected heavyweights, dealers said.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) hovered between 1,796.1 and 1,802.57 points throughout the day. It closed at 1,797.42, up 6.05 points. 

A dealer said investors also took the cue from the positive performances on the regional bourses today.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 improved 119.37 points to 14,586.51 and Singapore’s Straits Times rose 13.07 points to 3,187.10.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, however, lost 17.46 points to 23,210.87.

A dealer said Asian bourses reacted well to the eleventh hour agreement that saved the US government from debt default.

The deal, which permitted the Treasury to borrow normally through February 7, 2014 and fund the government through January 15, 2014, was reached after a month of political talks to raise the borrowing limit, thus avoiding a potentially catastrophic debt default.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index advanced 8.34 points to 16,740.21, Industrial Index improved 7.66 points to 3,077.25 and the Plantation Index was 33.36 points better at 8,449.05.

The FBM Emas Index rose by 39.59 points to 12,501.6, FBMT100 surged 36.71 points to 12,232.33, FBM 70 Index jumped 24.34 points to 14,239.96 and the FBM ACE Index added 33.55 points to 5,495.8.

Gainers led losers by 478 to 298 while 317 counters were unchanged, 520 untraded and 15 others were suspended.

Volume rose to 1.74 billion shares worth RM1.75 billion from 1.62 billion shares worth RM1.884 billion yesterday.

Among actives, Malaysia Airlines and The Media Shoppe earned half-a-sen each to 36 sen and 9.5 sen, respectively, Daya Materials was up by two sen to 34.5 sen and Sumatec Resources rose 10 sen to 32.5 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals slipped one sen each to RM9.93 and RM7.12, respectively.

Axiata added one sen to RM6.91 and CIMB improved three sen to RM7.49.

Volume on the Main Market fell to 1.25 billion units worth RM1.64 billion from 1.313 billion units worth RM1.81 billion on Wednesday.

Turnover on the ACE market increased to 435.96 million shares valued at RM100.43 million from 269.959 million shares valued at RM68.004 million yesterday.

Warrants surged to 27.09 million units worth RM3.25 million from 25.369 million units worth RM2.415 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 77.77 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 120.4 million, construction 43.64 million, trade and services 535.26 million, technology 163.2 million, infrastructure 43.37 million, SPAC 46.33 million, finance 53.2 million, hotels 4.93 million, properties 135.74 million, plantations 21.37 million, mining 16,000, REITs 6.76 million and closed/fund 34,100. — Bernama