SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia ended higher on Monday, ahead of the country's New Economic Model scheduled to be announced tomorrow. Dealers said the anticipation of more market liberalisation in the economic model, to be unveiled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at the annual Invest Malaysia forum, prompted gains in both heavyweights and lower liners. "The market today was firmer ahead of the announcement tomorrow, where we can expect some market liberalising initiatives to be presented," one analyst said. He expects the market to trade within 1,325 and 1,308 level tomorrow.
Today the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) ended 4.07 points higher at 1,319.21 after opening 1.16 point easier at 1,313.98. The Finance Index advanced 55.62 points to 11,794.55, the Plantation Index increased 28.94 points to 6,439.82 and the Industrial Index rose 16.71 points to 2,681.64. The FBM Emas Index added 38.69 points to 8,950.2, the FBM70 surged 45.42 points to 8,881.45 and the FBM Ace Index perked 63.9 points to 4,276.4. Advancers outpaced decliners 472 to 307 while 239 counters were unchanged, 328 untraded and 27 others were suspended. Turnover stood at 1.138 billion shares worth RM1.498 billion, up from last Friday''s 1.25 billion shares worth RM1.706 billion.
Bernama