BURSA MALAYSIA MIXED AT MIDDAY AS SENTIMENT TURNS SLIGHTLY CAUTIOUS

By Siti Noor Afera Abu

KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session marginally higher although the market breadth remained mixed as sentiment turned slightly cautious, amid the mostly higher regional market performance. 

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.14 per cent or 2.39 points to 1,617.71 from Wednesday's close of 1,615.32.

The benchmark index, which opened 0.64 of-a-point firmer at 1,615.96, moved between 1,614.71 and 1,619.75 throughout the morning session.

Decliners outpaced gainers 569 to 470 while 469 counters were unchanged, 895 untraded and six others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 3.06 billion units worth RM2.01 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng believes the local bourse may have emerged from its consolidation phase.

“Hence, we expect the index to play catch-up and trend within the 1,615-1,630 range today,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank added six sen to RM10.08, Tenaga Nasional gained four sen to RM14.22 and CIMB rose three sen to RM6.99, while Public Bank was flat at RM4.05 and IHH Healthcare fell two sen to RM6.31.

As for the actives, Ocean Fresh soared 53 sen to 81 sen, Dataprep went up 2.5 sen to 19.5 sen, and SNS Network perked up half-a-sen to 88.5 sen, and Appasia was flat at 16 sen.

 On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 21.56 points to 12,482.29, the FBMT 100 Index rose 23.97 points to 12,052.56 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 18.55 points to 12,845.16.

The FBM 70 Index garnered 59.25 points to 18,408.90, but the FBM ACE Index slipped 27.19 points to 5,947.17.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index gained 1.15 points to 989.23, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved by 0.54 of-a-point to 199.65, and the Financial Services Index put on 29.02 points to 17,641.92.

Meanwhile, the Plantation Index dipped by 5.46 points to 7,020.57.

-- BERNAMA