KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended at an intra-day high on Thursday, in line with the performance of its regional peers.
At 5pm, the 30-stock index closed at 1,527.62, up 11.10 points. The market traded within a range of 9.61 points between an intra-day high of 1,527.62 and a low of 1,518.01 during the session.
There were 680 gainers against 320 decliners while 418 counters were unchanged. About 5.18 billion shares, valued at RM2.97bil, changed hands.
Stock market data showed foreign funds were net sellers at RM147 mil but local institutions were net buyers at RM132mil and retail investors at RM15mil on Wednesday.
In today’s session, KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly positive, with 25 gainers, four decliners and one closed unchanged.
Dealers said market sentiment picked up today. However, they said it remains to be seen if the gains can be sustained.
Among the banks, Maybank added three sen to RM8.04, Public Bank rose one sen to RM4.02, CIMB climbed seven sen to RM4.55, Hong Leong Bank gained 16 sen to RM18.46 and RHB Bank closed unchanged at RM5.20.
All index-linked glove stocks ended lower today with Hartalega declining 14 sen to RM7.75 and Top Glove losing six sen to RM4.10.
Genetec was the top gainer on Bursa Malaysia, rising RM1.12 to RM18.72, followed by Kumpulan H & L High-Tech, which climbed 89 sen to RM4.93, and ViTrox, which rose 82 sen to RM17.58.
Rapid Synergy, Sam Engineering, and Time Dotcom are among the top losers on Bursa Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.2250, up 0.19% against the US dollar.
US crude oil rose 35 cents to US$70.65 and Brent crude added 30 cents to US$72.53 per barrel.
Around the region, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 1.25%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 499.26 points or 1.83% at 27,723.84
China's Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.34% at 3,574.73 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended up 0.15%.
South Korea’s Kospi ended up 34.30 points, or 1.07%, to 3,250.21.
Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.