KL shares rebound to close higher

Share prices rebounded in the last ten minutes of trading on Bursa Malaysia today, pushing the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) back into the positive territory after three day of consecutive losses, dealers said.

Last minute buying of selected heavyweights like Axiata, CIMB, Petronas Chemicals and Maybank, aided the benchmark index's rise by 0.72 of a point to close at 1,614.05, its the highest level
recorded today.

Meanwhile, some regional bourses declined, taking the cue from the overnight slide on Wall Street with Japan's Nikkei 225 giving up 159.15 points to 11,309.13, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slashed 400.74 points to 22,906.67 and Singapore's Straits Times declined 21.29 points to 3,287.60.

On the home front, the Finance Index added 7.771 points to 14.832.94, the Industrial Index rose 7.45 points to 2,782.61 but the Plantation Index erased 85.23 points to 7,831.08.

The FBM Emas Index edged up 2.32 points to 10,967.08, the FBMT100 Index rose 3.97 points to 10,823.31, the FBM Mid 70 Index added 0.67 of a point to 11,912.52 while the FBM Ace Index dropped 76.12 points to 3,921.48.

Decliners led advancers 443 to 236 with 317 counters unchanged, 680 untraded and 17 others were suspended.

Total volume eased to 1.169 billion units, valued at RM1.69 billion, from Wednesday's 1.37 billion shares worth RM1.713 billion.

Volume on the Main Market dropped to 734.201 million shares, valued at RM1.64 billion, from 911.589 million shares, worth RM1.67 billion, transacted yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE market eased to 413.701 million units, worth RM37.315 million, compared with Wednesday's 432.153 million units valued at RM40.067 million.

Warrants declined to 18.37 million shares, valued at RM1.196 million, versus 25.734 million shares valued at RM1.281 million, recorded on Wednesday.

Leading the losers list was Kuala Lumpur Kepong, which decreased 22 sen to RM20.60 and United Plantations, which gave up 20 sen to RM25.80.

Of the actives, The Media Shoppe shed two sen to 6.5 sen, Luster
Industries perked one sen to 11.5 sen but Patimas was unchanged at 6.5 sen.

Maybank, which reported better financial results for 2012, saw its share price rise three sen to RM8.93.

Other heavyweights, Axiata gained 12 sen to RM6.33, CIMB was up nine sen at RM7.07 and Petronas Chemicals increased eight sen to RM6.29.

Consumer products accounted for 30.123 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 181.081 million, construction 36.268 million, trade and services 237.256 million, technology 79.561 million, infrastructure 22.591 million, finance 74.823 million, hotels 1.507 million, properties 53.719 million, plantations 11.022 million, mining 87,000, REITs 6.088 million and closed/fund 75,500.-- Bernama