KUALA LUMPUR
Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed higher today with investors buying into both heavyweights and lower liners following overnight gains on Wall Street and lower crude oil prices, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) rose 29.84 points or 2.69 per cent to 1,139.41 after opening 8.04 points higher at 1,117.61.

The key index traded between the 1,116.1 and 1,139.41 level throughout the day.

According to some analysts, the uptrend in the local market will last for a couple of weeks as crude oil is expected to be traded sideways in the next three months.

Jupiter Securities' head of research, Mr Pong Teng Siew, said with a lot of pent-up demand from investors now, the bourse will be on the rebound for the next couple of weeks 'and to be interrupted by some profit-taking here and there'.

He said the falling crude oil price also did not bode well for the crude palm oil (CPO) stocks which usually carry the weightage for the benchmark index.

At close, the Plantation Index gained 22.75 points to 6,325.76, the Industrial Index added 53.17 points to 2,441.64 and the Finance Index increased 302.18 points to 8,718.90.

The FBMEmas rose 178.76 points to 7,540.14, the FBM30 advanced 186.46 points to 7,298.82, the FBM2BRD went up 61.64 points to 5,385.76 and the FBMMesdaq was 55.29 points higher at 4,257.06.

The increase in trading today saw gainers led losers by 516 to 136 while 175 counters were unchanged, 536 untraded and 38 suspended.

Volume doubled to 656.377 million shares valued at RM1.179 billion from yesterday's close of 329.505 million shares traded valued at RM783.748 million (S$328.5 million).

HONG KONG
Hong Kong share prices closed sharply higher on Wednesday, up 2.69 per cent, as investors snapped up airline and refiner stocks after oil prices plunged, dealers said.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index jumped 607.07 points to 23,134.55. Turnover was 75.79 billion Hong Kong dollars (S$13.2 billion).

The city's top carrier Cathay Pacific was up 6.25 per cent and refiner PetroChina rose 3.7, as crude oil prices continued to drop.

Property firm Sino Land, up 6.64 per cent, was also among the top gainers, following reports that the supply of flats in the city will fall.

SHANGHAI
Chinese stocks closed down 0.29 per cent on Wednesday as share price losses by property developers and financial firms offset gains by airlines and oil refiners, dealers said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, closed 8.27 points lower at 2,837.85 on turnover of 64.2 billion yuan (S$12.8 billion).

The Shanghai A-share index fell 8.63 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 2,976.89 on turnover of 64.1 billion yuan, while the Shenzhen A-share index fell 9.39 points, or 1.05 per cent, to 887.49 on turnover of 32.8 billion yuan.

TOKYO
Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1 per cent on Wednesday, with property firms Mitsubishi Estate and Mitsui Fudosan jumping after JPMorgan initiated coverage of them with an 'overweight' rating.

Japan's second-largest bank Mizuho Financial Group and its rivals extended gains on relief that major US bank results were now over, with most not as dire as investors had feared.

The benchmark Nikkei ended up 127.97 points at 13,312.93 after rising as high as 13,388.63 at one point.

The broader Topix climbed 1.2 per cent to 1,303.35. -- AFP, REUTERS, BERNAMA