KUALA LUMPUR: Axiata Group Bhd, Genting Malaysia and IHH Healthcare underpinned the FBM KLCI’s advance on Monday.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed 4.21 points, or 0.24% higher at 1,749.41. The market traded within a range of 11.19 points between an intra-day high of 1,755.26 and a low of 1,744.07 during the session.

Turnover increased to 6.017 billion shares valued at RM3.015bil. There were 545 gainers, 421 losers and 356 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia.

Gainers in the FBM KLCI component stocks were led by Axiata, which contributed 1.6328 points to the index, Genting Malaysia contributed 0.6876 to the index while IHH lifted the index by 0.6809.

Axiata closed 11 sen higher to RM5.08, Genting Malaysia rose 7 sen to RM5.54 and IHH closed 5 sen to RM6.03.

StarBiz reported that a merger between TM and Axiata is on the cards, sources say, as a means to strengthen the former in an increasingly converged market.

Sources say that both companies have already hired advisors, with CIMB Investment Bank advising TM while Goldman Sachs is working for Axiata on the deal.

Shares of Olympia Industries surged more than 34% to 19 sen, its highest in at least two years, after confirming its intention to dispose Jupiter Securities Sdn Bhd.

Olympia is the day’s second most heavily traded counter with some 223.9 million shares traded.

Olympia announced that it was currently in talks with interested parties to dispose its equity interest in Jupiter Securities.

Leading the top gainers on Bursa Malaysia, KESM rose 60 sen to RM11.60, Nestle gained 56 sen to RM77.38 and Dutch Lady increased 48 sen to RM57.80.

The decliners included Fraser & Neave, British American Tobacco and Riverview Rubber Estates.

Elsewhere in the region, Asian shares were lower with Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average falling 0.35%, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.41%, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.35% and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was up 0.79%.

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