KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended on a higher note today lifted by buying in blue chips and selected heavyweights, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,749.37, up 3.68 points, after opening 3.28 points lower at 1,743.4.

The benchmark index moved between 1,740.56 and 1,755.94 throughout the day.

The buying in blue chips and selected heavyweights was led by Petronas Dagangan, but, TNB was the biggest contributor to the rise in the composite index with 4.943 points.

TNB's shares increased 50 sen to RM13.60 with 12,458,500 lots changing hands. The shares of Petronas Dagangan rose 80 sen to RM16.80 with 820,900 lots traded.

The dealers said investor fears may be slowly subsiding and market recovery from Monday's performance decline is probably on its way.

The FBM Emas Index increased 32.84 points to 12,048.37, with the FBMT100 Index rising 29.35 points to 11,765, and the FBM 70 garnering 50.6 points to 13,136.9.

The FBM Ace increased 85.57 points to 5,997.62 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index improved 49.78 points to 12,473.63.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index perked 27.09 points to 15,569.79, the Industrial Index decreased 19.92 points to 3,188.86, and the Plantation Index fell 67.07 points to 8,032.02.

Market breadth was positive as gainers trounced losers 458 to 330, while 308 counters were unchanged, 620 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Total volume slipped to 1.402 billion units worth RM1.81 billion from 1.88 billion units worth RM2.26 billion yesterday.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank, Axiata, QL Resources, Asian Pac and MNC Wireless were all flat at RM8.89, RM6.79, RM3.26, 24 sen and 24.5 sen, respectively.

Among actives, Sumatec Resources lost half-a-sen, MAS, Dialog and KNM were all flat at 26.5 sen, RM1.35 sen and 46.5 sen respectively, while Perisai Petroleum decreased half-a-sen to 53 sen.

Main Market volume decreased to 969.03 million units worth RM1.67 billion from 1.45 billion units worth RM2.16 billion on Thursday.

Turnover on the ACE Market fell to 230.8 million shares valued at RM58.02 million from 309.05 million shares valued at RM65.44 million yesterday.

Warrants advanced to 200.76 million units worth RM80.06 million from 119.03 million units worth RM30.02 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 43.25 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (116.35 million), construction (46.43 million), trade and services (533.95 million), technology (40.91 million), infrastructure (22.58 million), SPAC (38.96 million), finance (43.79 million), hotels (443,100), properties (66.99 million), plantations (11.77 million), mining (46,000), REITs (3.49 million) and closed/fund (49,000). — Bernama