Bursa Malaysia Ends Morning Session Higher, Lifted By Blue Chips

By Zarul Effendi Razali

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher as investors bought select heavyweight stocks, led by the industrial products and services, as well as financial services counters, amid cautious sentiment in regional markets, said an analyst.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.41 points to 1,592.62 from Wednesday’s close of 1,588.21. The benchmark index opened 3.71 points firmer at 1,591.92 and moved between 1,590.31 and 1,596.02 in the morning trading session.

The market breadth, however, was negative, with 457 decliners outpacing 420 gainers, while 429 counters were unchanged, 1,288 untraded, and 17 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.54 billion units worth RM1.31 billion.

Thong Pak Leng, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, said the recent “accumulation stance” from local institutions has supported the market, thus he expects the index to hover within the 1,585-1595 points range today.

“Wall Street closed overnight on a mixed note as traders continued to take profit on tech stocks, fearing prevailing high valuations. In addition, the sentiment may also be affected by the statement from the US Federal Reserve that a rate cut may not be so soon due to heightening inflationary pressure,” he told Bernama today.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank was flat at RM9.80, CIMB added 10 sen to RM7.46, Nestle gained 50 sen to RM89.50, and Petronas Chemicals soared 52 sen to RM4.70.

Among the most active counters, Green Packet earned half a sen to 4.5 sen, Tanco added one sen to 74 sen, while Borneo Oil was flat at half a sen.

Across the broader market, the FBM Emas Index gained 20.74 points to 11,803.57, the FBMT 100 Index added 18.97 points to 11,587.27, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 12.25 points to 11,711.59.

The FBM Mid 70 Index slipped 30.74 points to 16,572.72, and the FBM ACE Index fell 0.88 of a point to 4,695.04.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 51.22 points to 18,216.36, the Plantation Index increased 12.37 points to 7,604.97, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 2.26 points to 162.99. The Energy Index slipped 1.46 points to 748.76.

-- BERNAMA