Bursa Malaysia, regional bourses close on bullish note

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia, together with regional bourses, closed on bullish note today on positive sentiment, thanks to the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) second 25-basis-point interest rate increase and higher oil prices, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 19.78 points to close at 1,737.14 from Wednesday's close of 1,717.36.
The index opened 8.98 points higher at 1,726.34 and moved between 1,726.12 and 1,738.02 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers doubled losers by 666 to 286, with 446 counters unchanged, 316 untraded and 27 others were suspended.
Volume rose to 3.41 billion units valued at RM3.62 billion from 3.32 billion units worth RM2.23 billion.
The dealer said following the Fed's interest rate increase, the second time after last December, China's Central Bank followed suit to raise its rates.
"This brought about double celebrations as investors were purchasing more assets and their interests have also come to our local stocks.
"We hope the spillover effect will stay a little longer and boost our exchange," he said.
Hong Kong Hang Seng rose 241.76 points to 24,034.61, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 12.76 points to 19,590.14 and Singapore's Straits Times gained 26.49 points to 3,163.92.
Among heavyweights, Maybank increased by 10 sen to RM8.85, Tenaga improved four sen to RM13.72, Public Bank inched up two sen to RM19.88 and Sime Darby rose 17 sen at RM9.30.
Of the actives, Priceworth International added one sen to 21 sen, Vivocom inched up half-a-sen to 16 sen and Matang and Iris were 1.5 sen better each at 14 sen and 15 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index increased 133.61 points to 12,277.24, FBMT100 Index surged 132.20 points to 11,931.42 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 121.49 points to 12,674.16.
The FBM 70 was 144.04 points higher at 14,252.15 and the FBM Ace gained 105.62 points to 5,509.05.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index perked 197.49 points to 15,606.50, Plantation Index inched up 50.71 points to 8,151.55 and the Industrial Index was 32,56 points better at 3,273.09.
The Main Market turnover rose to 3.41 billion units worth RM3.62 billion from 3.3 billion units worth RM2.23 billion yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 746.92 million shares valued at RM135.56 million versus 425.47 million shares valued at RM94.01 million on Wednesday.
Warrants advanced to 257.92 million units worth RM35.11 million against 204.48 million units worth RM22.63 million yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 131.04 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (538.42 million), construction (252.70 million), trade and services (719.37 million), technology (255.48 million), infrastructure (17.31 million), SPAC (1.73 million), finance (148.80 million), hotels (2.65 million), properties (280.69 million), plantations (27.11 million), mining (5,000), REITs (15.20 million), and closed/fund (38,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM168.89 per gramme, up RM2.39 from RM166.50 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama