KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI finished higher on Friday, buoyed by buying support for selected heavyweights, amid a mixed regional market performance.

       At 5pm, the 30-stock index rose 6.83 points, or 0.49% to 1,413.52, its intraday high. For the week, the index climbed 1.43 points, or 0.1%.

       There were 430 gainers, 487 losers and 426 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. Turnover stood at 3.3 billion shares valued at RM2bil.

       In today’s session, 20 of the KLCI-component stocks closed higher while nine counters ended lower and one closed unchanged.

       In terms of fund flows, local institutions and retailers were net sellers on Thursday offloading equities worth RM49mil and RM22mil respectively.

       Foreigners were net buyers with total purchases valued at RM71mil.

       Among the gainers, Nestle rose RM1.10 to RM132.50, Ajinomoto gained 58 sen to RM16.56, PPB added 20 sen to RM16.34 and Vitrox climbed 16 sen to RM8.20.

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       Malaysian Pacific Industries slid 50 sen to RM30, Heineken fell 40 sen to RM26.20, F&N lost 32 sen to RM24.88 and Dutch Lady declined 30 sen to RM21.50.

       Elsewhere in the region, Asian shares closed mixed with Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.57%, South Korea’s Kospi closed up 0.37%, China’s CSI300 declined 0.05% and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 0.8%.