KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at an intra-day high for the second consecutive day on continued buying support in finance and palm oil-related counters, dealers said.

The index closed 20.21 points better at 1,691.03 points from the 1,670.82 points yesterday. At 9am, the FBM KLCI opened 3.83 points higher at 1,674.65.

Allianz and Petronas Gas emerged among the day’s top gainers, rising 24 sen and 32 sen each to RM10.50 and RM22.34 respectively.

A dealer said the positive momentum on the local bourse was in line with most regional peers, owing to bullish sentiment on the global economic front.

He said Asian shares surged to a near two-month high as positive economic data in the United States and overnight gains in oil prices cushioned fears of a global economic slowdown.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index surged 120.57 points to 11,716.67, the FBMT100 Index advanced 120.85 points to 11,423.02 and the FBM Emas Shariah jumped 131.64 points to 12,456.29. The FBM 70 gained 80 points for 12,945.49 while the FBM Ace perked 16.29 points to 5,686.31.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index improved 39.57 points to 3,291.06, the Finance Index surged 128.12 points to 14,268.24 and the Plantation Index increased 27.38 points to 7,848.88.

There were 478 gainers and 375 losers while 343 counters were unchanged, 536 untraded and 11 others were suspended.

Volume was lower at 1.66 billion shares, worth RM2.28 billion, from 1.67 billion shares, valued at RM1.65 billion, traded yesterday.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added 11 sen to RM8.75, TNB perked 6 sen to RM13.22, Public Bank gained 12 sen to RM18.64 while Petronas Chemicals earned 10 sen to RM6.90.

Of actives, AirAsia was 6 sen higher at RM1.63, AirAsia X and APFT gained 1 sen each to 27.5 sen and 7 sen respectively, while SKH Consortium was flat at 8.5 sen.

Main Market volume fell to 1.13 billion units, valued at RM2.18 billion, from 1.17 billion units worth RM1.55 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE Market rose to 330.94 million shares, worth RM55.54 million, against the 189.33 million shares valued at RM56.54 million yesterday.

Warrants narrowed to 201.97 million units, valued at RM42.43 million, from 211.48 million units, worth RM38.88 million, yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 97.37 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (244.68 million), construction (37.01 million), trade and services (501.70 million), technology (27.10 million), infrastructure (14.15 million), SPAC (22.38 million), finance (68.46 million), hotels (1.01 million), properties (78.63 million), plantations (23.44 million), mining (5,000), REITs (13.68 million) and closed/fund (5,100). — Bernama