KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia rose at midday, buoyed by the strong performance of YTL-related companies, following YTL Corporation Bhd’s announcement of a doubling in net profit in its recent financial filings.
At the lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 0.12 per cent or 1.99 points to 1,637.31 from its previous close of 1,635.32.
The index opened 5.01 points higher at 1,640.33. and moved between 1,634.69 and 1,641.12 during the morning session.
On the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers 545 to 377, with 452 counters unchanged, 1,123 untraded, and eight suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.19 billion units valued at RM1.42 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said YTL-related stocks could also trade more actively, driven by strong quarter-on-quarter earnings growth announcements.
"Profit-taking activities remained prevalent in the local market, in line with the performance of regional peers.
"With the positive performance on Wall Street, we may see spillover buying support in the local technology sector," it said in a note today.
The stockbroking firm also noted that the monkeypox situation may provide a slight boost to healthcare stocks.
"Additionally, we favour consumer and financial stocks due to the stronger ringgit environment," it added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell 8.0 sen to RM10.44, CIMB Group dropped 4.0 sen to RM7.85, Tenaga Nasional decreased 6.0 sen to RM13.84, Public Bank eased 4.0 sen to RM4.59, and IHH Healthcare declined 1.0 sen to RM6.31.
Among the actives, YTL Power rose 35.0 sen to RM4.10, Elridge Energy increased 8.5 sen to 37.5 sen, MYEG Services advanced 1.0 sen to 93 sen while Velocity Capital fell 0.5 sen to 5.5 sen and Cape EMS dropped 2.0 sen to 40.5 sen.
YTL Power, Petronas Chemicals and YTL Corporation lifted the key index with a combined 9.49 points.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased by 1.75 points to 12,410.54, the FBMT 100 Index expanded by 5.49 points to 12,071.04, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 19.73 points to 12,368.60.
Meanwhile, the FBM ACE Index fell by 33.50 points to 5,302.78 and the FBM 70 Index decreased by 25.90 points to 17,970.33.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 49.34 points to 7,159.05, and the Industrial Products and Services Index increased by 0.97 of-a-point to 183.21, while the Financial Services Index decreased by 106.31 points to 19,071.65 and the Energy Index dropped by 10.04 points to 925.68.
-- BERNAMA
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