Malaysian Stock Market Closes Higher

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) closed higher Tuesday on gains in most heavyweights as the overnight rally on Wall Street lifted market sentiment. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 6.67 points higher at 1,740.6 compared to yesterday’s close of 1,733.93. The key index, which opened 1.62 points better at 1,735.55, moved between 1,735.31 and 1,741.51 throughout the day. Among heavyweights, Maybank and TNB rose 20 sen each to RM9.04 and RM13.72, respectively, Petronas Chemicals added one sen to RM7.60, while Public Bank and Sime Darby were both flat at RM19.92 and RM9.28. For actives, SKH Consortium added 1.5 sen to 17 sen, Anzo Holdings gained six sen to 42 sen and Key Alliance was half-a-sen better at nine sen. Consumer stocks were among the top gainers today, with Panasonic Manufacturing surging 60 sen to RM33.80, Nestle rose 54 sen to RM81.30 and British American Tobacco rose 42 sen to RM47.42. Top losers, on the other hand, were Shangri-La Hotels, which was down 16 sen to RM5.08, UEM Edgenta and Mesiniaga declined eight sen each RM3.18 and RM1.09, respectively. Overall market breadth was positive with gainers thumping losers 553 to 329, while 393 counters were unchanged, 475 untraded and 16 others suspended. Volume declined to 2.78 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion from 2.89 billion units valued at RM1.78 billion recorded Monday. -- BERNAMA