KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 21): The FBM KLCI closed up 1.74 points or 0.11% at 1,577.12 today, trailing the FBM ACE index's 6.23% rise as investors bought technology-related shares after the US' Nasdaq ended up at a record high on Thursday overnight trades.

Across Bursa Malaysia today, 7.73 billion shares changed hands for RM5.02 billion.

Bursa gainers outpaced decliners at 708 against 390 respectively.

The ACE index closed up 640.36 points or 6.23% at 10,921.88 to become the largest-percentage gainer among Bursa indices.

The technology gauge climbed 1.64 points or 3% to 56.26 to become the second-largest percentage gainer.

Malaysian markets resumed trading today after they were closed yesterday for a holiday in conjunction with Awal Muharram.

Today, the KLCI closed higher after volatile trade, which saw the 30-stock index falling to its intraday low at 1,568.98 before rising to its intraday high at 1,579.01.

Notable KLCI movers today included casino and hotel operator Genting Bhd after cruise ship operator Genting Hong Kong Ltd said on Wednesday (Aug 19) the company should temporarily suspend all payments to creditors to preserve liquidity.

Genting Bhd's share price closed down 23 sen or 6.05% at RM3.57 among Bursa top decliners while rubber glove manufacturers Top Glove Corp Bhd and Hartalega Holdings Bhd erased losses to finish among top gainers.

Top Glove's share price ended up 86 sen or 3.17% at RM28 after falling to its intraday low at RM26.70. Hartalega closed up 54 sen or 3.14% at
RM17.74 after dropping to its intraday low at RM16.80.

TA Securities Holdings Bhd senior technical analyst Stephen Soo told theedgemarkets.com that the KLCI's performance was mainly lifted by stocks including Top Glove and Hartalega.

He said the escalating number of COVID-19 cases in some countries continued to fuel demand for rubber gloves to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

"Rubber glove and technology-related shares are expected to continue to outperform," Soo said.

At a glance, Bursa's most-active stocks today included ACE constituents, which are also members of the technology gauge.

The list include names like Solution Group Bhd and Opensys (M) Bhd, the share prices of which closed higher, possibly on positive sentiment from US technology stocks' rise in Thursday overnight trades.

At Bursa today, Solution saw some 178 million shares traded. The stock's price closed up 18.5 sen or 63.79% at 47.5 sen.

Overnight, it was reported that Nasdaq ended at a record high on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Dow also rising, as gains in heavyweight tech stocks outweighed downbeat data that affirmed the Federal Reserve's view of a difficult road to economic recovery.

"Gains in Apple Inc — the only publicly listed US company to cross the US$2 trillion market value milestone — Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp underpinned the three main indexes' gains as investors bet they would ride out the economic crisis," Reuters reported.