KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia finished higher on Monday with the benchmark FBM KLCI holding steady above the 1,500 points level.

       At 5pm, the 30-stock index closed up 13.77 points, or 0.93% at 1,501.11. The index hit an intraday high of 1,518.38.

       Market breadth was positive as gainers outpaced losers by 575 to 456 while 419 counters were unchanged. A total of 4.98 billion shares changed hands, worth RM3.13bil in all.

       The top gainer on Bursa Malaysia was Hextar Technologies, which jumped 80 sen to RM22.80. Sungei Bagan Rubber rose 46 sen to RM5, Heineken gained 40 sen to RM24.50 and Malaysian Pacific Industries added 38 sen to RM28.50.

       Meanwhile, the top decliner was Raoid, which lost RM1.27, or 13.61% to RM8.06. Nestle slid 60 sen to RM119.30, YNH Property fell 33 sen to RM2.47 and F&N declined 20 sen to RM28.60.

       Among the banks, Maybank rose two sen to RM9.08, AmBank added four sen to RM4.23 and RHB Bank gained six sen to RM5.57.

       Public Bank climbed six sen to RM4.36, CIMB added eight sen to RM6 while Hong Leong Bank advanced 14 sen to RM18.96.

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       Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.91%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed down 0.17%, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.04%, China’s composite index added 0.15% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.2%.