KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — Bursa Malaysia closed higher today on improved buying momentum driven by trade/services stocks and selected heavyweights.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.39 points to close at 1,691.07 from last Friday’s close of 1,687.68 points.

It opened 4.74 points lower at 1,682.94 at 9 am, and fluctuated between 1,682.59 and 1,691.07 throughout the day.

Losers outpaced gainers by 533 to 303, while 359 counters were unchanged, 493 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Volume declined to 1.85 to billion units worth RM1.47 billion from 2.2 billion units worth RM1.7 billion last Friday.

A dealer said the buying momentum in local stocks, particularly in trade/services, finance and industrial product counters, helped boost the market, contributing 1.95 points to the composite index.

Astro Malaysia rose 11 sen to RM2.97, YTL added two sen to RM1.70, Axiata perked five sen to RM5.78 and CIMB was three sen better at RM4.69.

"News that Fitch Ratings has affirmed Malaysia’s long-term foreign-and-local currency issuer default ratings at A- with stable outlook has also provided a fillip to the market," the dealer said.

The credit ratings agency was reported as saying that the real gross domestic product growth remained stronger and a current account was still in surplus although narrowing.

Another dealer said all Petronas-linked companies were expected to see their shares trading higher, supported by the 20 per cent increase in oil prices over the past few months, which would spur the market and boost the country’s economy.

Petronas Gas shares rose six sen to RM22.18, Petronas Chemicals added 11 sen to RM6.68 but Petronas Dagangan was 10 sen lower at RM23.40.

The national oil and gas company said it would cut its capital expenditure and operating expenses by RM15 billion to RM20 billion this year, as part of a RM50 billion reduction over four years.

Meanwhile, among the top gainers were Lay Hong which rose 75 sen to RM10.10, United Plantations increased 50 sen to RM27 and British American Tobacco added 40 sen to RM50.38.

Top losers were Dutch Lady, which was down 78 sen to RM60.00, Panasonic Manufacturing declined 50 sen to RM38.10 while Nestle fell 24 sen to RM78.76.

Of the heavyweights, TNB was flat at RM14.80, Maybank fell one sen to RM7.99, Public Bank slipped two sen to RM19.80 but IHH was one sen better at RM6.68.

Among actives, Dagang NeXchange inched up half-a-sen to 24.5 sen, M3 Technologies was three sen lower at 10.5 sen, while both DBE Gurney Resources and AirAsia X were half-a-sen better at 5.5 sen and 47 sen, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index rose 14.84 points to 11,866.42, FBMT100 Index added 19.93 points to 11,574.83 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 14.84 points better at 11,866.42.

The FBM 70 increased 11.66 points to 13,667.89 and the FBM Ace lost 39.76 points to 5,534.81.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 16.20 points higher at 14,498.70, Industrial Index gained 7.54 points to 3,182.66 but the Plantation Index was 3.20 points lower at 7,858.86.

Main Market turnover fell to 1.06 billion shares worth RM1.34 billion from last Friday’s 1.14 billion shares worth RM1.52 billion.

The ACE Market volume declined to 343.96 million units valued at RM62.35 million from 398.57 million units valued at RM77.14 million.

Warrants shrank to 450.02 million shares worth RM71.08 million from 658.54 million shares worth RM101.94 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 120.35 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (186.56 million), construction (51.98 million), trade and services (388.06 million), technology (149.91 million), infrastructure 4.69 million), SPAC (5.08 million), finance (53.08 million), hotels (118,300), properties (60.59 million), plantations (28.68 million), mining (0), REITs (9.92 million) and closed/fund (13,700). — Bernama