UPBEAT GLOBAL CUES, BROAD-BASED GAINS LIFTS BURSA HIGHER

KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 (Bernama) -- Broad-based gains across sectors helped Bursa Malaysia to remain on an uptrend as of midday.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 6.25 points to 1,624.63 from Wednesday’s close of 1,618.38.

The index opened 2.78 points higher at 1,621.16 and moved between 1,621.10 and 1,628.35 throughout the morning session.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners by 667 to 413, with 476 counters unchanged, 875 untraded and seven suspended.

Turnover totalled 3.04 billion units worth RM2.12 billion.

A trader said optimism surrounding expectations of United States interest rate cuts in September saw Wall Street's rally extending into the seventh day.

The confidence boosts global markets, which saw Japanese stocks hitting new peaks. 

Back home, the FBM KLCI continues to nibble near the 1,630 level psychological level ahead of the domestic economic update and the overnight policy rate announcement by Bank Negara Malaysia.

The sentiment was also lifted by JP Morgan’s rating upgrade for Malaysia after almost six years, crediting the country’s policy reforms, data centre investments and infrastructure build-up.

JPMorgan also upgraded its ratings for Malaysia’s equity market and raised the FBM KLCI target base case to 1,650 from 1,500 previously.

Bursa heavyweights Maybank rose two sen to RM10.04, Tenaga Nasional was eight sen higher at RM14.48, CIMB gained six sen to RM7.15 and IHH Healthcare added three sen to RM6.33, while Public Bank eased two sen to RM4.12.

As for the most active counters, technology-related counters dominated, with SMTrack increasing half-a-sen to 4.0 sen and ATA IMS garnering six sen to 61 sen, while Dataprep eased one sen to 23.5 sen and Nova MSC lost one sen to 26 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 70.96 points to 12,581.34, the FBMT 100 Index rose 67 points to 12,152.91, the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 91.72 points to 12,948.98, the FBM 70 Index soared 177.14 points to 18,740.67, and the FBM ACE Index improved 14.84 points to 5,989.42.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index put on 68.88 points to 17,817.69, the Plantation Index added 16.34 points to 6,974,31 and the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 0.79 of-a-point to 200.85, while the Energy Index reduced by 2.14 points to 982.81.

-- BERNAMA