KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed higher on Monday, tracking gains in the region.

       At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 7.95 points, or 0.52% to 1,544.02 after moving between its intra-day high of 1,544.71 and a low of 1,537.07 during the session.

       Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 577 to 465, after 3.18 billion shares worth RM2.13bil changed hands.

       Among the gainers, Dutch Lady surged RM1.86 to RM32.50, Malaysian Pacific Industries added 86 sen to RM31.86m PETRONAS Gas gained 64 sen to RM18.26 and PPB rose 46 sen to RM15.84.

       Malaysia Airports slid 20 sen to RM9.76, Hextar Technologies fell 11 sen to RM1.21, Nestle lost 10 sen to RM118.10 and Harrisons declined nine sen to RM9.

       On the forex market, the ringgit was down 0.11% against the greenback to 4.7300. It is down 0.18% against the Singapore dollar to 3.5080 and 0.15% against the pound sterling to 5.9691.

       Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.05%.

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       Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended down 1.4% at 39,803.09, while South Korea’s Kospi ended 0.04% higher at 2,747.86.

       China’s blue-chip CSI300 index ended up 1.64% at 3,595.65, while the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.19% to 3,077.38.

       Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.37% to 3,236.07. Hong Kong market was closed for a holiday.