KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended sharply higher today, lifted by selected heavyweights led by Petronas Gas amid the recovery in crude oil prices.
At the closing bell, the benchmark index surged 14.63 points to 1,685.36, after moving between 1,674.89 and 1,686.4 throughout the day.
Petronas Gas soared 68 sen to RM22.50, Sime Darby jumped 15 sen to RM7.65, British American Tobacco expanded RM2.20 to RM55.80 and Axiata improved seven sen to RM6.39.
Among the other heavyweights, Maybank gained five sen to RM8.44, Public Bank advanced 12 sen to RM18.50 and TNB declined two sen to RM13.18.
Brent crude oil rose 0.27 per cent to US$37.23 per barrel today after depreciating 3.8 per cent on Monday to US$36.96 per barrel.
Of the actives, Borneo Oil added one sen to 16 sen, Luster Industries edged up half-a-sen to eight sen, Hubline was flat at one sen and Kim Teck Cheong Consolidated fell one sen to 37 sen.
The stronger local market was also in tandem with its regional peers ahead of the new year and boosted by year-end window dressing activities.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 appreciated 0.58 per cent to 18,982.23, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng increased 0.36 per cent to 21,999.62 and Singapore’s Straits Times was 0.42 per cent higher at 2,887.35.
Market breadth was positive as advancers led decliners by 452 to 397, while 357 counters were unchanged, 564 untraded and 56 others suspended.
Total volume was slightly higher at 1.95 billion shares worth RM1.80 billion against 1.91 billion shares worth RM1.72 billion on Monday.
The FBM Emas Index rose 89.12 points to 11,763.21, the FBMT100 Index gained 91.15 points to 11,437.96 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 92.65 points to 12,752.09.
The FBM 70 rose 75.64 points to 13,154.89 but the FBM Ace was 24.12 points lower at 6,346.38.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index bagged 56.9 points to 3,249.78, the Finance Index improved 83.87 points to 14,148.66 and the Plantation Index increased 45.24 points to 7,545.26.
Main Market volume advanced to 1.51 billion units worth RM1.71 billion from Monday’s 1.17 billion units worth RM1.54 billion.
Turnover on the ACE Market fell to 256.19 million shares valued at RM69.54 million from 471.17 million shares valued at RM134.28 million yesterday.
Warrants depreciated to 176.38 million units worth RM29.16 million from 267.93 million units worth RM38.03 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 131.35 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (283.39 million), construction (49.29 million), trade and services (797.70 million), technology (60.70 million), infrastructure (12.18 million), SPAC (11.51 million), finance (39.60 million), hotels (854,600), properties (101.76 million), plantations (20.50 million), mining (8,000), REITs (3.26 million) and closed/fund (36,800). — Bernama
