KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Bursa Malaysia, which remained in positive territory the whole day, closed higher driven by gains in most heavyweights.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at its highest for the day at 1,776.95, up 13.84 points from yesterday’s close of 1,763.37.

After opening 4.49 points higher at 1,767.6, the index also touched a low of 1,766.25.

On the broader market, gainers thumped losers 732 to 246, with 318 counters unchanged, 482 untraded and 30 others suspended.

Volume increased to 2.45 billion units valued at RM2.57 billion from the 2.21 billion units valued at RM2.23 billion recorded yesterday.

A dealer said sentiment in the local market was positive throughout the day, due to bullish global equities following strong private payrolls data from the United States, which added 253,000 jobs in May, beating a Reuters poll of 185,000.

“Local equities were in a consolidation mode in May. We see some investors now taking the opportunity to accumulate on weakness, given improving fundamentals and receding external geopolitical risks,” he added.

Among heavyweights,  Maybank rose 11 sen to RM9.53, TNB gained two sen to RM13.80, Public Bank added eight sen to RM20.12 and Sime Darby improved 28 sen to RM9.60.

On actives, Dagang Nexchange was 5.5 points better at 51 sen, while Borneo Oil and China Automobile were flat at 12.5 sen and one sen respectively. 

The FBM Emas Index was 123.62 points higher at 12,682.26, the FBMT 100 Index gained 120.88 points to 12,325.33 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 146.89 points to 12,894.35.

The FBM Ace surged 184.89 points to 6,352.48 and the FBM 70 jumped 242.11 points to 15,178.71.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index was up 133.1 points to 16,703.87, the Industrial Index increased 49.06 points to 3,300.58 and the Plantation Index was 37.07 points higher at 7,955.98.

Main Market turnover increased to 1.62 billion units worth RM2.43 billion from 1.53 billion units worth RM2.12 billion recorded yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market improved to 494.59 million units valued at RM96.03 million from 443.79 million units valued at RM84.53 million.

Warrants rose to 283.92 million units worth RM36.85 million from 228.52 million units worth RM25.06 million previously,

Consumer products accounted for 109.8 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (395.96 million), construction (92.63 million), trade and services (673.1 million), technology (88.13 million), infrastructure (5.01 million), SPAC (150,500), finance (103.72 million), hotels (732,900), properties (132.34 million), plantations (17.6 million), mining (2,000), REITs (9.48 million), and closed/fund (21,500). — Bernama