Bursa Malaysia Ends Morning Session Higher

KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher on sustained buying in heavyweight stocks, particularly in consumer products and services, and plantation counters.

Analysts said buying interest in plantation stocks was supported by expectations of a tighter palm oil supply, following Indonesia’s completion of automotive testing this month ahead of the rollout of its B45/B50 biodiesel mandate, as well as seasonal concerns over a potential El Niño event from June to August.

At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 12.75 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 1,696.01 from Thursday’s close of 1,683.26.

The index opened 3.19 points higher at 1,686.45 and traded within a range of 1,684.36 to 1,698.53 throughout the morning session.

However, market breadth remains negative, with losers outnumbering gainers 572 to 405, while 548 counters were unchanged, 1,150 untraded, and 12 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.85 billion shares worth RM1.40 billion.

Among the plantation counters, buying interest was seen in United Plantations, which rose 86 sen to RM32.16, while IOI Corporation and Sime Darby gained two sen each to RM4.20 and RM2.05, respectively. Johor Plantations Group advanced three sen to RM1.73.

Heavyweight counters, Maybank added 18 sen to RM10.78, Public Bank and CIMB expanded nine sen each to RM4.87 and RM7.44, respectively. Tenaga Nasional gained eight to RM14.18, and IHH increased two sen to RM8.81.

Among the active stocks, Zertrix gained half-a-sen to 83 sen, CBH Engineering improved 5.5 sen to 67.5 sen, while Advance Synergy was flat at eight sen. GIIB was half-a-sen lower at 46.5 sen, and Pharmaniaga fell one sen to 28 sen.

As for the top gainers, Concrete Engineering jumped 55 sen to RM3.20, Petronas Dagangan improved 38 sen to RM19.16, Hong Leong Bank advanced 22 sen to RM21.20, and Dutch Lady garnered 18 sen to RM32.90.

Among the top losers, Nestle trimmed RM1.10 to RM94.02, Malaysian Pacific Industries dropped 38 sen to RM47.06, UMS Integration lost 23 sen to RM8.00, Kelington slipped 28 sen to RM7.62, and Fraser & Neave shaved 56 sen to RM26.32.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 61.05 points to 12,622.57, while the FBM Top 100 Index increased 64.26 points to 12,462.19, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 22.88 points to 12,595.53.

The FBM Mid 70 Index declined 30.78 points to 18,335.16, and the FBM ACE Index edged down 11.82 points to 4,712.12.

By sector, the Financial Services Index rose 240.28 points to 19,785.78. The Industrial Products and Services Index gained 0.55 of a point to 198.98, the Energy Index added 5.51 points to 797.89, and the Plantation Index was up by 14.71 points to 8,713.66.

-- BERNAMA