Malaysian share prices closed 0.61 percent higher on Tuesday, with property and plantation firms leading gains to push the key index to a 13-year high, dealers said. They said lower liners succumbed to profit-taking after Monday's gains.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 7.98 points to 1,306.34 on turnover of 2.40 billion shares, worth 2.87 billion ringgit (834.3 million dollars) while losers led gainers 521 to 417, with 254 stocks unchanged. At the close, the ringgit was at 3.4470/4520 against the dollar.
"The market has been quite volatile today and we expect the volatility to last until the end of this week," said Kaladher Govindan, head of research at TA Securities. He said the strengthening of the ringgit and the strong performances of most regional markets are among factors that have contributed to the local gains over the past few days.
Govindan said the local bourse could stage a correction soon and investors should watch out for developments in regional markets, especially in China. Index heavyweight Tenaga and Telekom was flat at 11.80 ringgit and 10.20 respectively while Maybank was up 0.20 at 12.90.