KUALA LUMPUR (July 24): The FBM KLCI jumped in the final trading minutes to end 2.83 points or 0.16% higher on index-linked Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd (HLFG) shares' 11th-hour spike.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,761.99 points. HLFG shares rose 26 sen to RM17.18 to become Bursa Malaysia's sixth-largest gainer.

Interest in stocks like Hong Leong Bank Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd also suported the KLCI.

Across Bursa Malaysia, 1.67 billion shares worth RM1.68 billion changed hands. There were 299 gainers and 475 decliners.

Technical analysts said the KLCI could have also tracked the ringgit's appreciation and Asian share gains.

“The ringgit has strengthened and there is also a sense of better sentiment across the regional market today,” Maybank Investment Bank Bhd chartist Nik Ihsan Raja Abdullah told theedgemarkets.com over telephone.

At 5:10pm, the ringgit strengthened to 4.279 against the US dollar. Across Asian share markets, China's Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite rose 0.39% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.53% higher.
 
Reuters reported that Asian stocks edged slightly higher on Monday, while the European Central Bank's apparent equanimity at the euro's nearly two-year highs left the dollar languishing.