Malaysia's Stock Market Ends Higher, CI Up 9.47 Points

KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) closed higher Tuesday with the key index breaching the 1,750-level mark on consistent buying in most heavyweights namely finance, trade and services, as well as the lower liners, dealers said. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 9.47 points to close at 1,754.42 from Monday's close of 1,744.95. The index opened 5.65 points higher at 1,750.60 and moved between 1,748.65 and 1,756.27 throughout the day. On the broader market, gainers led losers 513 to 366, with 389 counters unchanged, 453 untraded and 25 others suspended. Volume eased to 3.06 billion units worth RM2.41 billion from 3.97 billion units valued at RM2.48 billion registered on Monday. A dealer said the local bourse's performance was also in sync with its regional peers. It was reported that concern over the ability of US President Donald Trump's administration to deliver the election campaign pledges gave way to tentative hopes for his planned stimulus policies. Petronas Dagangan which rose RM1.06 to RM24.84 was the top contributor to the composite index, followed by Genting which gained 25 sen to RM9.75. Among heavyweights, Maybank added three sen to RM9.00, TNB rose four sen to RM13.74, Public Bank was flat at RM19.92 but Sime Darby eased six sen to RM9.39. As for actives, Scomi added 2.5 sen to 20.5 sen, Dataprep gained five sen to 60 sen while Olympia Industries was up one sen to 15 sen. The FBM Emas Index increased 71.22 points to 12,422.47, the FBMT100 Index rose 69.98 points to 12,078.77 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 63.38 points better at 12,842.33. The FBM 70 surged 102.36 points to 14,536.74 and the FBM Ace was 68.94 points higher at 5,756.65. Sector-wise, the Finance Index soared 99.24 points to 15,752.65, the Plantation Index rose 16.80 points to 8,208.40 and the Industrial Index added 8.09 points to 3,289.97. -- BERNAMA