KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI hit a five-week high on Friday, lifted by gains in Press Metal, Petronas Chemicals and IHH healthcare.

       At closing, the 30-stock index ended 6.5 points, or 0.41% higher at 1,607.29, its highest since March 3. For the week, the index added 4.88 points.

       Market breadth turned positive as gainers overpowered the losers on a ratio of 535-to-396 stocks. Traded volumes stood at 2.92 billion shares valued at RM1.85bil.

       Among the KLCI component stocks, Press Metal jumped 23 sen to RM6.35, pushing the index higher by 2.8608 points.

       Petronas Chemicals rose 12 sen to RM10.30, propelling the index 1.4492 points higher and IHH Healthcare closed up four sen to RM6.45, nudging the index higher by 0.5315 points.

       Laggards among the KLCI component stocks were Telekom Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and MISC.

       On the broader market, Heineken Malaysia surged RM1.80 to RM24.80, PMB Technology rose 72 sen to RM19 and Dutch Lady gained 40 sen to RM33.

       Brahim's, the most active counter on Bursa Malaysia, tumbled 69.57% to 3.5 sen with 191.78 million shares traded.

       Trading in Brahim's securities will be suspended on April 15 as its appeal for an extension of time to submit its regularisation plan has been rejected by Bursa Securities.

       The Practice Note 17 (PN17) company also risks being delisted on April 20 unless an appeal against the delisting is submitted to Bursa Securities on or before April 14.

       Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.36%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.29%, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.17% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.62%.