KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — Bursa Malaysia ended the day marginally higher prompted by bargain hunting activities with consumer-linked stocks leading the top gainers list.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 1.84 points better at 1,615.01, after moving between 1,603.02 and 1,617.44 throughout the day.

However, market breadth was slightly negative with losers outpacing gainers 381 to 355 while 318 counters were unchanged, 779 untraded and 19 others were suspended.

Volume decreased to 1.66 billion shares, valued at RM1.94 billion, from 1.77 billion shares, valued at RM2.12 billion, recorded on Wednesday.

The market was closed yesterday for the HariRaya Aidiladha celebration.

Top gainers included British American Tobacco (+42 sen to RM61.92), PPB Group (+36 sen to RM15.56) and Nestle (+22 sen to RM72.96).

On heavyweights, Maybank and Axiata were flat at RM8.41 and RM5.90, Public Bank lost 8.0 sen to RM17.60 and Tenaga added 4.0 sen to RM12.08.

Among actives, IFCA gained 9.0 sen to 97 sen, The Media Shoppe appreciated half-a-sen to 12.5 sen and AirAsia fell 6.0 sen to RM1.30.

On the scoreboard, the FBM 70 was 5.23 points higher at 12,206.1, FBM Ace rose 35.77 points to 5,573.25 and the FBM Emas Index increased 12.35 points to 11,165.38.

The FBMT100 Index improved 10.58 points to 10,877.39 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 42.46 points to 11,828.64.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index gave up 31.84 points to 13,979.72, Plantation Index was up 12.91 points to 6,945.61 and the Industrial Index appreciated 9.58 points to 3,107.99.

Main Market volume fell to 949.51 million, worth RM1.74 billion, from 1.01 billion units, worth RM1.93 billion, recorded on Wednesday.

Turnover on the ACE Market rose to 348.22 million shares, worth RM136.42 million, from Wednesday’s 257.86 million shares worth RM86.86 million.

Warrants decreased to 363.34 million units, valued at RM72.64 million, from 503.44 million units, worth RM105.62 million, registered on Wednesday.

Consumer products accounted for 54.09 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (146.61 million), construction (40.36 million), trade and services (455.93 million), technology (24.98 million), infrastructure (8.96 million), SPAC (3.57 million), finance (56.23 million), hotel (505,300), properties (133.4 million), plantations (19.67 million), mining (1,000), REITs (5.07 million) and closed/fund (80,800). — Bernama