KUALA LUMPUR: The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI), which opened higher today slipped into the red briefly around 10.30 am and fell as much as 5.03 points before recovering.

At 5pm, the benchmark index closed 12.02 points higher at 1,120.90. About 939.3 million shares changed hands, valued at some RM1.45bil. Gainers outpaced losers by 295 to 277 while 277 counters were unchanged.

Far East Holdings Bhd was the top gainer, rising 50 sen to RM6.20, while Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Bhd and BAT added 25 sen each to RM9.95 and RM45 respectively. Genting rose 15 sen to RM5.75 and EON Capital Bhd added 16 sen to RM4.80.

Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd rose 16 sen to RM4.58 while Malayan Banking Bhd advanced 15 sen to RM6.10.

The top loser for the day was Amtel Holdings Bhd. The counter lost 27.5 sen to 50.5 sen. Concrete Engineering Products Bhd lost 22 sen to RM2.88 while PPB Group down 20 sen to RM12.30. KNM Group was the most actively traded stock with 1.23 million shares done. The counter lost 2.5 sen to 82.5 sen.

Elsewhere in the region, the Singapore Straits Times Index closed 27.41 points higher at 2,428.43 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 443.79 to 18,805.66 points.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen Index added 6.00 and 8.01 points to 3,189.74 and 1,084.39 respectively. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended 51.16 points higher at 9,395.32.