BURSA MALAYSIA HIGHER AT MIDDAY IN SYNC WITH REGIONAL PEERS

KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia has maintained its positive tone at midday, in sync with the upbeat performance of regional bourses. 

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.61 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 1,573.86 from Thursday’s close of 1,569.25.

The benchmark index opened 1.58 points easier at 1,567.67, moved between 1,566.34 and 1,574.43 during the morning session. 

On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 466 to 458, while 443 counters were unchanged, 1,006 untraded and 52 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.26 billion units worth RM1.47 billion. 

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects profit-taking activities to extend on the local front and could cap the upside opportunity at least for the near term.

“Nonetheless, we remain positive following the KL20 Summit 2024, coupled with the announcement on the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account 3, where it might provide a boost for the consumption activities going forward," it said in a note today. 

The brokerage firm said the KL20 Summit 2024 is a fresh catalyst for investors to position themselves within the technology sector as it may craft Malaysia into a chip powerhouse for the Southeast Asian region.

"Besides, we favour the construction, property, utilities, solar and building material segments on the back of the revival of the mega infrastructure projects and newsflow picked up on Forest City, as well as the stronger demand for renewable energy under the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR)," it added. 

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 2.0 sen to RM9.80, Tenaga Nasional went up 6.0 sen to RM11.92, IHH Healthcare inched up 1.0 sen to RM6.26, while Public Bank and CIMB slid 2.0 sen each to RM4.21 and RM6.66.  

As for the actives, My E.G. perked up by 11.0 sen to 92 sen, ATA IMS increased 2.0 sen to 30.5 sen, Dataprep Holdings added 1.5 sen to 14 sen, while BSL Corporation and Hong Seng Consolidated were flat at 3.0 sen and 1.0 sen respectively. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 37.18 points to 11,818.16, the FBM 70 Index jumped 70.88 points to 16,426.18, the FBMT 100 Index moved 37.70 points up to 11,456.17, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 39.57 points better at 11,990.94, and the FBM ACE Index firmed by 9.59 points to 5,024.60. 

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.81 of-a-point to 187.37, the Energy Index garnered 1.36 points to 972.76, the Financial Services Index lost 31.53 points to 17,332.42 and the Plantation Index gave up 32.21 points to 7,393.84.

-- BERNAMA