KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia, which remained in positive territory today, ended the day higher on continued buying interest in heavyweights.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI), which was traded between 1,780.83 points and 1,788.29 points, finished 2.37 points better at 1,781.25 points.     

Top gainers included Petronas Dagangan, which surged 46 sen to RM30.50, Fraser & Neave Holdings was up 34 sen to RM18.44 and Hong Leong Financial Group soared 32 sen to RM15.30.

The local bourse staged a stronger performance today, reversing its easier trend yesterday as investors turned bullish on the market’s long-term outlook.

MIDF Research, in a note, said it has reaffirmed its FBM KLCI end-2014 target of 1,900 points, with the upper and lower bounds at 1,980 points and 1,840 points, respectively.      

Among the factors that would potentially affect tomorrow’s trading is Bank Negara Malaysia’s monetary policy meeting and whether or not there would be a review in the overnight policy rate (OPR), which has been maintained at 3.0 per cent since May 5, 2011.

Green Packet remained the most actively traded stock today, following a news report that the company’s 57 per cent-owned unit, Packet One Networks, was close to signing a merger and acquisition deal with either DiGi or Telekom Malaysia, with legal documents having been drafted by advisers.

Its share price was unchanged at 45 sen at closing with 105.42 million shares transacted.

Another active stock was KNM Group, which closed 2.5 sen higher at 57 sen, with 52.12 million shares traded, following its proposal to reduce its par value to 50 sen from RM1.

Market breadth was positive as gainers led losers 352 to 330, while 321 counters were unchanged, 591 untraded and 29 others were suspended.

However, volume was lower at 1.362 billion shares worth RM1.863 billion from 1.717 billion shares worth RM2.743 billion yesterday.

On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index dwindled 13.16 points to 8,362.53 points but the Industrial Index was 2.38 points higher at 3,030.52 points and the Finance Index gained 52.09 points to 16,286.47 points.                                  

The FBM Emas Index added 11.7 points to 12,304.65 points, FBMT100 Index garnered 11.21 points to 12,026.33 points, the FBM Ace increased 59.82 points to 5,823.44 points but the FBM 70 dipped 6.06 points to 13,608.32 points.

The Main Market volume decreased to 1.095 billion units worth RM1.791 billion from yesterday’s 1.425 billion units worth RM2.568 billion.  

Turnover on the ACE market declined to 222.43 million shares worth RM67.3 million from 227.741 million shares worth RM75.8 million traded yesterday.

Warrants fell to 43.43 million units worth RM4.034 million from 58.29 million units worth RM5.74 million previously.

On a sectorial basis, consumer products accounted for 144.91 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 194.81 million, construction 53.64 million, trade and services 276.27 million, technology 140.53 million, infrastructure 21.74 million, SPAC 24.32 million, finance 53.06 million, hotels 270,700, properties 149.32 million, plantations 27.33 million, mining 11,000, REITs 2.93 million and closed/fund 13,000. — Bernama