KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI jumped on Friday, tracking gains in the regional markets as worries over banking crisis eased.
The benchmark index closed at 1,411.73, up 1.45% or 20.13 points, taking its full-week drop to 1.5%. All sectoral indices closed positive.
Gainers led sellers by 711 to 244, while 349 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 4.43 billion shares, valued at RM4.09bil.
Among the movers on the index was Kuala Lumpur Kepong, jumping 90 sen to RM21.56, pushing the index up by 1.4238.
Maybank closed up 12 sen to RM8.38, lifting the index 2.1169 points higher while PETRONAS Chemicals gained 24 sen pushing the index higher by 2.8099.
On the broader market, Hextar Technologies rose 76 sen to RM24.94, United Plantations added 58 sen to RM16.54, British American Tobacco
shed 54 sen to RM10.20 and Carlsberg eased 46 sen to RM21.14.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.4865, up 0.37% against the US dollar.
Reuters reported that Malaysian bonds emerged as a haven last month for foreign investors in Asia on improving growth outlook and low prospects of further policy rate hikes by the country's central bank.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 1.2%, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.75%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.73% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed up 1.64%.
