KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 ­- Mild buying of finance and trade/services shares, two hours before Bursa Malaysia closed, lifted the local bourse to close higher after recording losses earlier in the day.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) moved between 1,621.46 and 1,637.67 throughout the day before settling 2.33 points better at 1,635.72.

It closed 12.18 points better at 1,633.39 yesterday.

Losers led gainers 518 to 302 with 380 counters unchanged, 514 untraded and 13 others were suspended. 

Volume was higher at 1.88 billion shares, worth RM1.99 billion, from yesterday's 1.7 billion shares worth RM1.72 billion. 

A dealer said shares on Bursa Malaysia were supported by buying although its regional peers traded lower on the back of accelerating US inflation and comments from US Federal Reserve officials that awakened prospects of an interest rate hike next month.

Traders were also optimistic the local bourse would remain higher as global oil prices were improving.

"The oil price rose to a seven-month high, providing positive speculation among traders that US crude stockpiles were declining," said another dealer.

Yesterday, it was reported that oil prices were hovering around US$50 per barrel ­- a big rebound from mid-February ­ when crude was trading at just US$26 per barrel, the lowest level since 2003.

Of heavyweights, Maybank rose 13 sen to RM8.66, TNB added 14 sen to RM14.04, Public Bank was flat at RN19.16 while IHH was seven sen lower at RM6.50.

Among actives, Connectcounty was flat at half-a-sen, AirAsia X eased one sen to 40 sen while Ace market debutante Salutica was 2.5 sen better at 82.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index rose 8.66 points to 11,424.58, the FBMT100 Index gained 11.37 points to 11,115.29 but the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 1.44 points to 11,905.37.

The FBM 70 was 2.82 points lower at 12,833.94, the FBM Ace erased 132.07 points to 5,641.40 while the Finance Index added 42.93 points to 14,350.69.

The Plantation Index edged down 8.17 points to 7,482.60 and the Industrial Index was 23.92 points lower at 3,030.89.

Main Market turnover was lower at 1.15 billion units, valued at RM1.83 billion, from yesterday's 1.19 billion units valued at RM1.62 billion.

The ACE Market turnover rose to 592.06 million units, valued at RM147.26 million, versus 381.94 million units, worth RM78.02 million, recorded yesterday.

Warrants advanced to 138.53 million units, valued at RM8.64 million, against 131.08 million units, worth RM19.15 million.

Consumer products accounted for 93.60 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (246.91 million), construction (47.55 million), trade and services (549.24 million), technology (17.21 million), infrastructure (6 million), SPAC (13.37 million), finance (48.64 million), hotels (1.68 million), properties (96.97 million), plantations (22.43 million), mining

(5,000), REITs (6.23 million) and closed/fund (2,000). ­ Bernama