Banking stocks lead rebound

SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia rebounded in the afternoon session to close higher yesterday, lifted by gains mostly in banking stocks, dealers said.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose four points to end at 1,657.96.

Hong Leong Financial Group and RHB Capital were among the top gainers, adding 42 sen and 18 sen to close at RM15.06 and RM8.38, respectively.

Advancers led decliners by 361 to 340, with 266 counters unchanged, 665 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 856.45 million shares valued at RM1.71 billion from 786.53 million shares worth RM1.67 billion on Friday.

The Finance Index jumped 104.47 points to 15,403.95, the Industrial Index rose 10.02 points to 2,846.52 and the Plantation Index improved 27.36 points to 7,971.27.

The FBM Emas Index rose 26.61 points to 11,317.76, FBMT100 added 26.02 points to 11,161.52, FBM ACE Index was 11.45 points higher at 4,001.61 and the FBM Mid 70 Index increased 24.92 points to 12,486.36.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank advanced 13 sen to RM9.26 while Sime Darby and CIMB eased one sen each to RM9.20 and RM7.25, respectively.

Among gainers, Petronas Dagangan and Keck Seng rose 30 sen each to RM23.58 and RM4.93, respectively, while Nestle and Lafarge Malayan went up 22 sen each to RM60.42 and RM10.26, respectively.

Meanwhile, FBM KLCI futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed higher, tracking gains on the cash market.

March 2013, April 2013 and June 2013 added 11 points each to 1,664, 1,661.5 and 1,654.5, respectively, while September 2013 rose 5.5 points to 1,646. Turnover totalled 8,545 lots while open interest stood at 39,550 contracts. Bernama