KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Bursa Malaysia ended higher today on renewed buying momentum and in tandem with its regional peers as fears eased on the upcoming United Kingdom (UK) referendum on June 23 on its European Union (EU) membership, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 10.05 points or 0.62 per cent firmer at 1,634.23, after opening 0.75 of-a-point higher at 1,633.38.

The index fluctuated between 1,634.23 and 1,631.11 throughout the day.           

On the broader market, losers edged gainers 370 to 361, while 361 counters remained unchanged, 635 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Volume was higher at 1.24 billion units worth RM1.41 billion from 1.12 billion units worth RM1.42 billion on Friday.

A dealer said concerns that the UK would vote to leave the EU abated after weekend polls showed the remain camp gained momentum ahead of the referendum vote on June 23, which led to higher risk appetite.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2.34 per cent to 15,965.30, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.68 per cent to 20,510.20 while Singapore’s Straits Times went up 1.36 per cent to 2,800.87.

On the home front, heavyweights Maybank added 11 sen to RM8.20, IHH Healthcare and Genting increased nine sen each to RM6.49 and RM8.15 respectively, CIMB perked eight sen to RM4.32 and Petronas Gas gained 30 sen to RM21.74.

Of the actives, Nexgram Holdings rose 0.5 sen to six sen, Felda Global gained seven sen to RM1.59, Vivocom International lost 1.5 sen to 24 sen, while Borneo Oil and KNM Group declined half-a-sen each to 14.5 sen and 43 sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Index gained 49.01 points to 11,406.43, the FBMT100 Index added 50.44 points to 11,110.61 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index was 42.02 points higher at 11,969.32.

However, the FBM 70 slid 7.44 points to 12,846.01 and the FBM Ace declined 21.60 points to 5,239.38.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index increased 68.26 points to 14,104.19, the Plantation Index added 33.87 points to 7,602.24 and the Industrial Index put on 11.77 points to 3,065.65.

Main Market turnover increased to 746.50 million shares worth RM1.33 billion from last Friday’s 701.96 million shares worth RM1.36 billion.

The ACE Market volume expanded to 302.54 million shares worth RM56.36 million from 263.73 million shares worth RM37.87 million.

Warrants increased to 194.84 million shares worth RM23.96 million from 151.11 million shares worth RM22.23 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 46.48 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (157.26 million), construction (37.17 million), trade and services (326.36 million), technology (40.39 million), infrastructure (6.42 million), SPAC (8.67 million), finance (36.08 million), hotels (505,000), properties (39.11 million), plantations (42.22 million), mining (23,000), REITs (5.78 million) and closed/fund (2000). — Bernama