KUALA LUMPUR (July 17): The FBM KLCI rose at the 11th hour for a 0.19 point increase mainly on PPB Group Bhd share gains. The KLCI had earlier fallen on China share losses.

At Bursa Malaysia, the KLCI closed at 1,755.19 points at 5pm. The KLCI erased losses during the final trading minutes after falling to its intraday low at 1,752.78 points.

PPB shares rose 18 sen to close at RM16.88 to become Bursa Malaysia's seventh-largest gainer. Malaysian shares had earlier tracked China share losses as China's small capitalisation stocks dragged the broader market lower.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite fell 45.95 points or 1.43%  to close at 3,176.46 points. Reuters reported that sharp drops in highly speculative small-cap stocks pulled China's major stock indexes lower on Monday, offsetting stronger-than-expected economic growth data.

It was reported that fears of further policy tightening and a flood of supply from initial public offerings pulled benchmarks down by an unusually hefty two percent in early trade. They briefly recouped the losses after data showed the economy expanded 6.9 percent in the second quarter, defying expectations for a slight loss of momentum.

In Malaysia, Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd research head Edmund Tham told theedgemarkets.com that the "Chinese Government could be looking at increasing control over the economy."

Across Bursa Malaysia, 2.04 billion shares valued at RM1.72 billion were traded. Decliners outpaced gainers at 409 to 380 respectively.

The most-active stock was UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd. The stock rose 8.5 sen to 37 sen with some 120 million shares traded.