Bursa Malaysia Higher At Midday, Tracking Wall Street's Performance

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia remained higher at midday, tracking Wall Street’s positive performance amid declining crude oil prices and ongoing Middle East tension, an analyst said. 

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 1.96 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 1,637.58 from Tuesday’s close of 1,635.62.

The barometer index, which opened 2.04 points higher at 1,637.66, moved between 1,635.90 and 1,642.29 throughout the morning trading session.

However, on the broader market, decliners led gainers 494 to 463, with 485 counters unchanged, 982 untraded and 20 suspended. 

Turnover amounted to 1.95 billion units valued at RM1.22 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the US Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 126 points while the Nasdaq added 259 points with the US 10-year yield easing slightly to 4.01 per cent.

He noted that the market remains insufficient to instigate any heightened trading activities although daily traded volume improved somewhat in the last minute yesterday. 

"Therefore, we maintained that the local bourse is still stuck within its consolidation phase and the index is expected to hover within the 1,630-1,640 range today," he told Bernama. 

Meanwhile, he said crude oil prices slipped as Brent crude lost almost five per cent to US$77 per barrel on concerns of weakening demand.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank and CIMB gained six sen to RM10.54 and RM8.02, respectively, Tenaga Nasional soared 26 sen to RM14.44, while IHH Healthcare lost three sen to RM7.22 and Petronas Chemicals shed 16 sen to RM5.64.

Of the active counters, Crest Capital edged up 1.5 sen to 36.5 sen, MY E.G and Capital A improved half-a-sen to 90.5 sen and 96.5 sen, respectively, while 99 Speed Mart slid one sen to RM2.45 and Dagang Nexchange was unchanged at 38.5.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index firmed 22.93 points to 12,291.80, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 28.55 points to 11,991.32 and the FBM 70 Index rose 94.44 points to 17,549.24.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 12.70 points to 12,194.62, while the FBM ACE Index shrank 12.93 points to 5,139.73.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index reduced 40.73 points to 7,172.89, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 1.90 points to 175.72, the Energy Index dropped 16.61 points to 879.17, while the Financial Services Index widened 56.10 points to 19,258.44.

-- BERNAMA