Bursa Malaysia Higher At Midday

By Zarul Effendi Razali

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session on a high note, driven by continuous buying in selected heavyweights, led by industrial products and services, as well as financial services counters, despite cautious sentiments in regional markets, said an analyst.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.07 points to 1,597.94 from Thursday’s close of 1,592.87.

The benchmark index opened 0.93 points firmer at 1,593.80 and moved between 1,593.42 and 1,603.19 throughout the session.

The market breadth was positive with 451 gainers outpacing 392, while 475 counters were unchanged, 1,276 untraded, and 12 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.58 billion units worth RM1.22 billion.

Thong Pak Leng, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd’s vice-president of equity research, said for today, the local benchmark index is expected to hover between the 1,590-1,600 range.

“Wall Street ended lower as traders are looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s statement on interest rates later today. Traders remain sidelined ahead of Jerome Powell’s speech to gauge the possibility of the much-touted rate cut in September.

“Back home, the FBM KLCI again defied expectations as the index ended above the 1,590 level despite being off the day’s high. We are indeed heartened by the solid support from the local funds thus far, as they took the lead within the local bourse,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank gained 7.0 sen to RM9.85, Public Bank added 1.0 sen to RM4.46, IHH Healthcare advanced 4.0 sen to RM6.85, while CIMB was flat at RM7.45, and Tenaga Nasional fell 2.0 sen to RM13.62.

Among the most active counters, TWL Holdings and SFP Tech earned half-a-sen each to 3.0 sen and 16 sen, respectively, Zetrix AI gained 1.0 sen to 88.5 sen, while Tanco eased half-a-sen to 73.5 sen.

Across the broader market, the FBM Emas Index gained 34.58 points to 11,835.49, the FBMT 100 Index added 32.02 points to 11,614.45, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 40.31 points to 11,758.24.

The FBM Mid 70 Index climbed 24.40 points to 16,560.62, and the FBM ACE Index rose by 21.53 points to 4,729.86.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 60.51 points to 18,244.66, the Plantation Index increased 7.98 points to 7,614.50, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.52 points to 165.19. The Energy Index, however, slipped 1.10 points to 749.63.

-- BERNAMA