KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 — Bursa Malaysia closed higher today in extending the bullish market sentiment from last week and mainly lifted by firmer foreign buying.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 4.9  points to end at 1,712.58 from last Friday's close of 1,707.68.

After opening 1.51 points lower at 1,706.17 at 9 am, the index moved between 1,706.17 and 1,713.61 throughout the day.

Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd Head of Research Pong Teng Siew said the net equity purchase from foreign investors was recorded at more than RM400 million for the week ended Feb 17, 2017.

"This amount was the highest for the past six months," he told Bernama.

Apart from that, Pong said last week's uptrend was also supported by a strong participation of retail investors.

Market breadth was positive with gainers beating losers 466 to 452 with 333 counters unchanged, 470 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Volume was higher at 2.49 billion shares worth RM2.22 billion from 2.27 billion shares worth RM2.46 billion last Friday.

Meanwhile, Pong said the better-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) data released last Thursday also helped boost investor confidence.

Bank Negara Malaysia announced last Thursday that Malaysia's GDP grew by 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016 (4Q16), underpinned by continued expansion in private sector expenditure, leading to a full year growth of 4.2 per cent.

Among heavyweights, Public Bank added four sen to RM20.04, Tenaga Nasional advanced six sen to RM13.54 and Sime Darby improved five sen to RM9.20.But, Maybank shed four sen to RM8.42.

Of the actives, Dagang Nexchange gained four sen to 37.5 sen, and its warrant was one sen better at 9.5 sen, Bumi Armada rose 2.5 sen to 75 sen, while Jag slid two sen to 13 sen.

The FBM Emas Index surged 32.07 points to 12,053.24, the FBMT 100 Index perked 30.08 points to 11,729.43 and the FBM 70 rose 22.42 points to 13,884.72.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 20.34 points to 12,545.20 and the FBM Ace Index was 14.84 points better at 5,306.48.  

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index perked 14.19 points to 3,292.10,But, the Plantation Index slid 73.19 points to 8,073.23 and the Finance Index fell 3.24 points to 15,063.76.

Main Market turnover improved to 1.84 billion units worth RM2.10 billion from 1.71 billion units worth RM2.37 billion last Friday.

The ACE Market increased to 449.21 million shares valued at RM91.68 million from 390.20 million shares valued at RM71.13 million.

Warrants advanced to 200.11 million units worth RM22.54 million from 146.21 million units worth RM17.89 million.

Consumer products accounted for 131.47 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (327.89 million), construction (156.98 million), trade and services (894.07 million), technology (76.22 million), infrastructure (7.73 million), SPAC (1.64 million), finance (53.77 million), hotels (155,900), properties (133.55 million), plantations (33.95 million), mining (33,500), REITs (23.60 million), and closed/fund (15,000). — Bernama