KUALA LUMPUR (June 22): The KLCI rose 0.6% to finish at 1,732.76 points, tracking Asian markets on positive sentiment that Greece will be able to meet its debt obligations.

According to Reuters, global stocks, the euro and peripheral euro zone bonds all rose today, lifted by a wave of optimism that Greece and its international creditors will strike a last-minute deal that will see Athens avert default.

Malaysia's KLCI rose at 5pm on gains in stocks like Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

Across Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.2%, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.26% while South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.4%.

In Malaysia, a remisier with a local investment bank said the KLCI’s rise was in line with positive sentiment across regional markets.

He also said bargain hunting and a stronger ringgit versus the US dollar had driven up the KLCI.

“The ringgit was also stronger against the US dollar today at 3.7338 and was a boost to market sentiment,” he told theedgemarkets.com. The ringgit, however, weakened against the Singapore dollar at 2.8005

Overall, Bursa Malaysia saw 1.54 billion shares valued at RM1.82 billion traded. There were 561 gainers against 238 decliners, while 306 counters remained unchanged.

Top gainers included SAM Engineering & Equipment (M) Bhd, Tenaga and Microlink Solutions Bhd

Major decliners included Nestle (M) Bhd and Hong Leong Bank Bhd. The most actively-traded stock today was Frontken Corp Bhd.

Among gainers, Microlink rose 19 sen or 12% to close at RM1.84 after the software developer's director Monteiro Gerard Clair increased his stake in the company.

In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia last Friday, Microlink reported that Clair had bought an additional 20,000 shares at RM1.60 each in two separate transactions on Wednesday and Thursday (June 17 and 18).

Clair had bought 5,000 shares on Wednesday followed by another 15,000 units the following day.

The transactions increased his direct stake to 0.03%. Clair also owns an indirect 79.02% in Microlink by virtue of his substantial interest in Omesti Bhd, the controlling shareholder of Microlink.

Today, another notable gainer was oil and gas support services entity Enra Group Bhd, which rose 14 sen or 6% to RM2.31.

Enra had last Monday appointed Petronas former president and chief executive officer Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas as a director in the company.