KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia rose sharply on Tuesday, with index-linked counters posting nearly across-the-board gains and leading the FBM KLCI to a gain of 2.03%.
At the closing bell, the FBM KLCI surged 30.94 points, or 2.03% to 1,553.37, the highest in two months.
Market breadth turned positive as gainers outnumbered the losers on a ratio of 812-to-319 stocks. Traded volumes stood at 4.54 billion shares worth RM3.15bil.
In today’s session, KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly in the positive, with 27 gainers, two decliners and one closed unchanged.
Dealers said the market undertone was improving and could be fuelled by recovery hopes. They said notable gains were seen in technology and semiconductor-related counters and banking stocks.
On Bursa Malaysia, Genetec was the top gainer, jumping RM3.74 to RM27.80, followed by Sam Engineering, which climbed RM3.12 to RM16.24, and KESM, which rose RM1.36 to RM13.46.
TAFI Industries, Warisan TC, SKB Shutters and Yinson are among the top losers on Bursa Malaysia.
Among the banks, Maybank added 15 sen to RM8.32, Public Bank rose 17 sen to RM4.11, CIMB gained 15 sen to RM4.83, Hong Leong Bank jumped 60 sen to RM19 and RHB Bank climbed nine sen to RM5.43.
Kuala Lumpur Kepong added 42 sen to RM20.50, Hap Seng rose 28 sen to RM8.10, Sime Darby Plantation advanced 25 sen to RM4.16 and IOI Corp gained 14 sen to RM3.89.
MR DIY fell seven sen to RM3.80, Petronas Chemicals declined four sen to RM7.94 and Digi closed unchanged at RM4.30.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.2163, up 0.23% against the US dollar.
US light crude oil rose 56 cents to US$66.20 and Brent added 67 cents to US$69.42 per barrel.
On the external front, Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended up 0.87% at 27,732.10, while South Korea’s Kospi closed up 48.09 points, or 1.56%, at 3,138.30.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.5% to 25,727.92.
China’s CSI300 index ended 1.1% higher at 4,888.39, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.1% to 3,514.47 points.