KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — Last-minute buying in selected heavyweights and consumer counters lifted the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) to close at an intra-day high today.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) settled 2.02 points higher at 1,718.36 against the close on Friday of 1,717.34.

The index, which opened 1.98 points weaker at 1,714.36, moved to the lowest level of 1,707.11 during the day.

Nestle and Panasonic Manufacturing were the top two gainers as the trading ended, rising 80 sen and 60 sen each to RM75.30 and RM28.90 respectively.

FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga said global stocks posted their longest streak of gains in more than two years following the sharp appreciation in oil prices, which boosted confidence in the global economy, consequently heightening investor risk appetite.

“In Europe, stocks illustrated resilience by clawing back previous losses as comments from European Central Bank economist Peter Praet led to elevated expectations of further ECB stimulus measures if negative shocks dampen the euro zone outlook,” he said in a research note today.

However, he said, Asian equities are currently depressed with lingering concerns over slowing global growth attracting demand for the safe-haven Japanese yen, which in turn dragged the Nikkei to levels not seen since late 2014.

Back home, market breadth was positive as advancers outpaced decliners 442 to 437, with 329 counters unchanged, 528 untraded and 11 others suspended. Volume slipped to 2.01 billion shares valued at RM2.05 billion from the 2.02 billion shares worth RM2.98 billion transacted on Friday.

For the heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank rose 4 sen to RM8.95, TNB and Public Bank advanced 6 sen each to RM13.48 and RM18.96 respectively, while IHH Healthcare shed 17 sen to RM6.58.

Active stocks today included Hubline and Iris Corp, which were flat at 1 sen and 17 sen respectively, while IFCA added 4.5 sen to 77.5 sen and Globaltec earned 0.5 sen to 5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index eased 0.58 point to 11,908.71, the FBMT100 Index fell 4.32 points to 11,607.68 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 3.22 points to 12,515.40. The FBM 70 declined 69.29 points to 13,155.62 but the FBM Ace bagged 17.79 points for 5,701.65.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index dipped 29.29 points to 14,681.88, the Industrial Index shed 5.06 points to 3,286.15 while the Plantation Index improved 4.27 points to 8,041.82.

Main Market volume slipped to 1.34 billion units worth RM1.94 billion from 1.4 billion units valued at RM2.86 billion on Friday.

Turnover on the ACE Market declined to 308.77 million units worth RM59.36 million against Friday's 338 million units valued at RM67.63 million.

Warrants improved to 359.96 million units worth RM44.79 million against 283.19 million units valued at RM46.22 million.

Consumer products accounted for 73.60 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (198.24 million), construction (150.21 million), trade and services (598.32 million), technology (14.07 million), infrastructure (10.39 million), SPAC (98.44 million), finance (61.97 million), hotels

(755,800), properties (84.50 million), plantations (43.04 million), mining (20,000), REITs (7.05 million) and closed/fund (8,000). — Bernama