KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Gains in selected finance counters, led by CIMB, lifted Bursa Malaysia to end higher today for the fourth consecutive day, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,748.9, up 13.82 points, after hovering between 1,725.98 and 1,750.16 through the day.

CIMB emerged the top gainer, rising 74 sen or 14.29 per cent to RM5.92, with 29.12 million shares changing hands.

Market talk that CIMB and RHB Capital are looking to scrap their proposed mega bank merger with Malaysian Building Society Bhd (MBSB) has triggered massive buying interest in the banking stocks.

A source close to the negotiations was quoted in a report as saying that the three entities were supposed to meet tomorrow when the deal will be called off.

On other scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index climbed 90.41 points to 12,011.74, the FBMT100 Index 88.39 points to 11,741.97, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index 18.98 points to 12,508.06. The FBM 70 gained 81.22 points to 13,035.06 and the FBM Ace soared 77.97 points to 5,972.86.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index added 19.55 points to 3,189.16, the Plantation Index 0.03 of a point to 7,813.25 and the Finance Index 290.53 points to 15,387.49.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers by 502 to 311 with 275 counters unchanged, 643 counters untraded and eight others suspended.

Total volume surged to 1.90 billion shares worth RM2.11 billion from 1.36 billion shares worth RM1.46 billion yesterday.

Among actively traded stocks, Systech improved 2.5 sen to 26.5 sen, Iris Corp went up 1.5 sen to 32 sen, Asia Bioenergy earned 0.5 sen to 16 sen and AirAsia garnered 11 sen to RM2.73.

Of the heavyweights, TNB increased 2 sen to RM14.22, Maybank rose 4 sen to RM8.62, Public Bank fell 6 sen to RM17.46 while Axiata gave up 7 sen to RM6.98.

Main Market volume expanded to 1.23 billion shares worth RM1.91 billion from 834.93 million shares yesterday worth RM1.26 billion.

Turnover on the ACE Market widened to 483.02 million shares valued at RM140.19 million from 392.49 million shares valued at RM141.41 million previously.

Warrants advanced to 189.44 million units worth RM61.53 million from 133.12 million units worth RM55.99 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 102.1 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 147.38 million, construction 63.81 million, trade and services 545.35 million, technology 79.99 million, infrastructure 13.25 million, SPAC 34.85 million, finance 110.87 million, hotels 2.75 million, properties 100.46 million, plantations 15.03 million, mining 100, REITs 10.59 million and closed/fund 17,000. — Bernama