Bursa Malaysia Stays In Positive Zone At Midday In Sync With Regional Peers

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia remained in positive territory at midday on continued buying in selected heavyweights, particularly utilities and industrial products and services counters, in sync with the mostly higher regional market performance.

Tenaga Nasional added 22 sen to RM14.02, Petronas Chemicals edged up 11 sen to RM4.94, and Press Metal Aluminium was 6.0 sen better at RM4.70. These stocks lifted the composite index by a combined 4.51 points. 

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.91 points to 1,591.59 from yesterday’s close of 1,588.68.

The benchmark index opened 4.36 points higher at 1,593.04 and moved between 1,587.74 and 1,593.85 throughout the morning trading session. 

However, the broader market was negative with decliners outpacing advancers 506 to 354, while 464 counters remained unchanged, 1,141 untraded, and 23 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.47 billion units valued at RM1.03 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Wall Street was higher overnight as initial concerns over Nvidia’s revenue outlook faded, with the company assuring investors of strong demand for its new product lineup, potentially fuelling another rally.

“The escalation of the Ukraine-Russia conflict may weigh on market sentiment but could present opportunities in gold and oil-related stocks and consumer counters.

“We also favour the aviation industry as the year-end holiday season approaches,” it said. 

In addition, the stock brokerage said that the strengthening US dollar and President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff policy should benefit export-oriented sectors such as technology and gloves.

“Meanwhile, the construction, property, and building materials sectors remain supported by earlier data centre investments,” it added.

Among other heavyweights, QL Resources gained 8.0 sen to RM4.85, IHH Healthcare perked up 3.0 sen to RM7.20, and Telekom Malaysia put on 6.0 sen to RM6.40, while YTL Corporation slid 9.0 sen to RM1.74 and YTL Power International gave up 10 sen to RM2.88. 

As for the active stocks, Globetronics Technology advanced 4.0 sen to 55 sen, Tanco climbed 2.0 sen to RM1.58, MY E.G. edged up half-a-sen to 91.5 sen, while Permaju Industries was flat at 4.0 sen and Cape EMS shed 1.0 sen to 36 sen, and 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index garnered 51.62 points to 12,122.51, the FBM Emas Index increased by 24.87 points to 12,112.48, the FBMT 100 Index rose by 26.67 points at 11,817.89, the FBM 70 Index bagged 58.99 points to 17,902.65, and the FBM ACE Index fell 30.12 points to 5,167.82.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.49 points to 173.50, the Financial Services Index ticked up 10.32 points to 19,041.45, the Plantation Index erased 26.55 points to 7,539.83, and the Energy Index dipped 4.07 points to 822.03.

-- BERNAMA