Malaysian share prices closed 0.52 percent higher on Tuesday on active buying interest in blue chips and lower liners, and driven by a sharp improvement in May export data, dealers said. They said speculative and follow-through interest in blue chips would help sustain the upward momentum Wednesday in heavy trade.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index gained 4.85 points to 923.99 and volume traded was 1.00 billion shares valued at 1.13 billion ringgit (310.31 million dollars). Gainers outnumbered losers 602 to 201, with 245 stocks unchanged and 266 counters untraded.
The ringgit was at 3.6425/3647 to the dollar at the close. Malaysia's trade surplus in May jumped 21.5 percent from April to 8.05 billion ringgit on the back of strong exports of electronic products and oil, the government said Tuesday.
The May figure was also 20.7 percent higher than a year earlier. "Today's positive market close suggests that gains are sustainable for at least the near term," a local brokerage dealer said.
"Strong follow-through buying in blue chips and lower-liners gives an impression that sentiment could now be turning positive, helped by easing concerns over rising global interest rates," he said. Among blue chips, Dutch Lady Milk Industries closed up 0.30 ringgit at 9.05, while Telekom Malaysia and Malayan Banking were flat at 9.00 and 10.60, respectively.
Tenaga Nasional added 0.05 to 9.20 on news it would not acquire independent power producer Northern Utility Resources.