11/07/2012 (Bernama) - Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed higher Tuesday in line with the rally in regional bourses with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) touching an all-time intra-day high of 1,625.04, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI hit at a new high of 1,624.29 after the index opened 0.7 of a point better at 1,621.01.

Vice President and Head of Retail Research of Affin Investment Bank, Dr Nazri Khan, said the local bourse's uptrend was mainly prompted by gains in plantation counters like Kuala Lumpur Kepong, IJM Plantations and Tradewinds Plantation.

"Plantation counters especially for crude palm oil are now traded higher as commodity prices have started to recover and are expected to climb higher soon," he said.

A dealer said investors' sentiment was also lifted by new progress on the eurozone after their finance ministers agreed to grant Spain an extra year, until 2014, to reach its deficit reduction targets.

However, he added, the weak China import data has mitigated investors from taking major positions in the market as the data signals slower consumer demand in the world's second biggest economy.

The Finance Index surged 57.99 points to 14,566.59, the Plantation Index was up 99.359 points to 8,836.60 and the Industrial Index advanced 13.32 points to 2,870.38.

The FBM Emas rose 35.79 points to 11,126.70, the FBM Ace Index added 60.67 points to 4,447.92, and the FBM 70 Index jumped 73.52 points to 12,295.85.

Gainers led losers by 436 to 338 while 355 counters were unchanged, 442 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 1.132 billion shares worth RM1.536 billion from 1.266 billion shares worth RM1.293 billion yesterday.

Of the actives, Ariantec Global fell 1.5 sen to eight sen, Metronic Global lost one sen to 7.5 sen and Luster Industries was flat at 10 sen.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was up four sen to RM8.74, Sime Darby rose one sen to RM9.94, CIMB surged seven sen to RM7.81 while Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM6.55.

Volume on the Main Market decreased to 728.320 million units valued at RM1.470 billion from 785.055 million units worth RM1.208 billion on Monday.

Turnover on the ACE market fell to 275.038 million shares worth RM42.175 million from 378.407 million shares valued at RM68.505 million previously.

Warrants rose to 126.70 million units worth RM22.161 million from 100.845 million units worth RM15.125 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 53.816 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 178.323 million, construction 28.502 million, trade and services 235.896 million, technology 20.50 million, infrastructure 11.195 million, finance 65.868 million, hotels 527,100 million, properties 67.261 million, plantations 59.147 million, mining nil, REITs 7.207 million and closed/fund 75,500.