KUALA LUMPUR (March 14): Trading of shares on Bursa Malaysia ended on a positive note today, with the country’s equity benchmark index — FBM KLCI — inching up by a marginal 0.55 point or 0.03% on last-minute interest in index-linked Genting Bhd, Genting Malaysia Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd and Hong Leong Bank Bhd.

At 5pm today, the FBM KLCI closed at 1,722.47 points, which is the ninth consecutive trading day that it stayed above 1,700 points since March 2, data from Bloomberg showed.

Some 3.92 billion shares worth RM3.25 billion exchanged hands in the local bourse, exceeding the average 2.8 billion shares in the last 20 trading days.

As for market breadth, 444 counters closed higher versus 473 counters that ended lower, while 363 stocks closed unchanged and 23 counters were suspended.

Borneo Oil Bhd was the most actively traded counter with 265.63 million shares traded, after it announced a bonus issue and warrants.

Priceworth International Bhd was the second most traded counter with 198.76 million shares changing hands, while Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd was the third most actively traded counter and the top gainer with 135.62 million shares traded.

Decliners were led by cigarette manufacturer British American Tobacco Malaysia Bhd, which continued its losing streak. It shed 90 sen today.

“The overall market sentiment is very bullish as evident by over three billion shares traded. Investors are just aggressive in (buying) these two days!” a Maybank Investment Bank Bhd chartist told theedgemarkets.com in a brief telephone conversation this evening.

Elsewhere in the region, indices are mostly flat today ahead of the US Federal Reserve Meeting on Tuesday. Investors are expecting the US Federal Reserve to raise the interest rate.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.12%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index ended its trade in the red as it closed at a marginal 0.01% lower. China’s CSI300 index also dipped 0.04%.