KUALA LUMPUR (April 8): The FBM KLCI closed 2.54 points or 0.15% higher today at 1,644.35 mainly on Maxis Bhd's share price jump in the final trading minutes after the index's volatile trading session.

Banking stocks ended lower while actively-traded oil and gas shares led to a substantial rise in trading volume across Bursa Malaysia at 3.87 billion shares.
 
At 5pm, Maxis closed up 21 sen at RM5.70 among Bursa Malaysia top gainers, which included KLCI-linked plantation-related stocks PPB Group Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong said the KLCI's rise was supported by gains in telecommunication stocks such as Maxis Bhd and Axiata Group Bhd as banking stocks fell.

“There was also some profit taking in banking heavyweights during the day in RHB Bank Bhd, Public Bank Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd,” he told theedgemarkets.com. Public Bank closed down 26 sen at RM22.62 among Bursa Malaysia top decliners.

Across Bursa Malaysia today, 3.87 billion shares were traded for RM2.4 billion. On Friday, 2.65 billion shares valued at RM1.58 billon were transacted.

Today, the most-active stocks included oil and gas shares Sapura Energy Bhd and Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd as crude oil were traded higher at above US$70 a barrel.

Sapura Energy and Dayang saw some 328 million and 92 million shares traded respectively. Sapura Energy closed 0.5 sen down at 35 sen after rising to its intraday high at 37 sen while Dayang ended 17 sen up at RM1.54.

In oil markets, Reuters reported that oil prices rose to their highest level since November 2018 on Monday, driven upwards by OPEC's ongoing supply cuts, US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, fighting in Libya as well as strong US jobs data. It was reported that international benchmark Brent futures were at US$70.62 per barrel at 0716 GMT on Monday, up 28 cents, or 0.4 percent from their last close.