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Dec 21: Bursa Malaysia ends higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher today, backed by mild buying interest in small caps and amid window dressing activities, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 4.58 points to 1,751.21 from Wednesday's close of 1,746.63.

The index opened 3.96 points higher at 1,750.59 and moved between 1,744.21 and 1,752.25 throughout the trading session.

However, on the broader market, losers led gainers 481 to 397 with 383 counters unchanged, 605 counters untraded and 33 others suspended.

Total volume fell to 2.47 billion shares worth RM2.06 billion from Wednesday's 2.53 billion shares worth RM2.26 billion.

Malaysian Association of Technical Analysts Professional member, Amir Hassan, said traders on the local bourse displayed more attention towards smaller counters, indicating the start of a slowdown in institutional trading, as the Christmas break approaches.

"However, the market is seeing pockets of trades amongst selected bluechips as investors window dress towards the end of the year,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped two sen to RM9.48, Tenaga rose 10 sen to RM14.96, Public Bank eased four sen to RM20.68, while Petronas Chemicals advanced 12 sen to RM7.60.

Of the actives, PUC was flat at 32 sen, Diversified Gateway Solutions fell one sen to 11.5 sen and DGB Asia gained 2.5 sen to 17 sen.

The FBM Emas Index rose 15.55 points to 12,601.14 and the FBMT 100 Index was 15.27 points higher at 12,271.82, but the FBM 70 declined 37.13 points to 15,574.10.

The FBM Ace slipped 15.65 points to 6,453.49 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was down 22.06 points to 12,931.39.

Sector wise, the Finance Index fell 41.19 points to 16,568.14, but the Plantation Index improved 44.40 points to 7,833.82 and the Industrial Index rose 30.28 points to 3,172.83.

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