Bursa Malaysia Outperforms Region, CI Soars 1.37 Pct At Midday

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia defied the regional downturn with the benchmark index climbing 1.37 per cent in the morning session on stronger corporate earnings, particularly in the banking sector.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) surpassed the 1,670 mark, rising 22.70 points to 1,674.99 from Tuesday's close of 1,652.29.

The FBM KLCI exceeded its previous 44-month high of 1,674.35 recorded on Dec 17, 2020.

The index opened 5.48 points higher at 1,657.77, its low for the session, and peaked at 1,681.37 at around noon.

However, the broader market was negative as losers led gainers by 559 to 439, with 456 counters unchanged, 1,062 untraded, and 42 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.30 billion units valued at RM2.22 billion.

Driven by the robust performance of banking stocks, the Financial Services Index surged 492.30 points to 19,771.15.

Meanwhile, regional bourses were in a selling mode amid sluggish performance on Wall Street overnight, with Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropping 0.22 per cent to 3,391.11, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shedding 0.97 per cent to 17,700.93, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.02 per cent to 38,282.14, and South Korea’s Kospi decreased 0.29 per cent to 2,681.47.

UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said foreign investors are beginning to accumulate assets denominated in ringgit in anticipation of the US Federal Reserve interest rate cut next month.

“We anticipate that foreign investors will continue to increase their holdings in blue chips, particularly in the financial sector, as a rate cut would significantly benefit this industry.

“With lower yields on fixed-income assets such as bonds, investors may be drawn to dividend-paying stocks. Malaysian banks, renowned for their consistent dividend payouts, could attract substantial investment inflows,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank jumped 20 sen to RM10.90, Public Bank advanced 11 sen to RM4.79, CIMB increased 35 sen to RM8.28, and Tenaga rose 12 sen to RM14.04, while IHH gained one sen to RM6.31.

As for the actives, Luster was flat at 7.5 sen, while ACE Market debutant Vetece gained 20.5 sen 45.5 sen, and MYEG inched up half-a-sen to 90.5 sen.

Notion eased two sen to 87 sen and Cape EMS went down half-a-sen to 36 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 107.68 points to 12,528.42, the FBMT 100 Index rose 115.66 points to 12,226.22, but the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 2.81 points to 12,322.28.

The FBM 70 Index decreased by 18.84 points to 17,748.15 and the FBM ACE Index dipped by 31.54 points to 5,158.40.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index garnered 47.31 points to 7,261.97, the Industrial Products and Services Index perked up 0.06 of-a-point to 183.59, while the Energy Index declined 6.99 points to 939.89.

-- BERNAMA