KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 12): The FBM KLCI rose 7.12 points or 0.4% to its intraday high while share-trade volume across Bursa Malaysia climbed to 3.66 billion shares on foreign buying.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,789.86 points mainly on Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd's share price spike in the final trading minutes. Hong Leong Financial added 18 sen to RM17.24 to become Bursa Malaysia's eighth-largest gainer.

“The KLCI’s performance today is spurred by the positive spillover effect from the S&P 500, which closed at its record high overnight (Monday), thereby, pushing the KLCI [further] into the positive,” Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd analyst Kenneth Leong told theedgemarkets.com.

Leong said there was "renewed buying interest today in the KLCI, particularly from foreign investors, resulting in fresh funds buying into the market."

Across Bursa Malaysia, 3.66 billion shares valued at RM2.26 billion were traded. Gainers outnumbered decliners at 460 and 345 respectively.

Yesterday, 2.73 billion shares worth RM2.16 billion were traded across the bourse.

Today, Petronas Gas Bhd topped Bursa Malaysia gainers while Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd led decliners.

MQ Technology Bhd was the most active counter. MQ shares rose 3.5 sen to 8.5 sen with some 487 million shares transacted.

SJ Securities Sdn Bhd senior remisier Goh Kay Chong said short-term traders might have bought MQ shares on expectation the company will benefit from a weaker ringgit versus the baht. At 5:18pm today, the ringgit weakened to 12.7065 against the baht.

“MQ Technology is one of the companies that is benefiting from the rise of the Thai baht. MQ earns about 25% of its turnover from Thailand,” Goh told theedgemarkets.com.