Bursa Malaysia Settles Higher At Lunch Break
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session higher, in tandem with regional peers, as it took a cue from the stronger overnight performance on Wall Street.
Persistent buying of heavyweight stocks led by Petronas Chemicals, MISC, Tenaga Nasional and financial sector stocks lifted the barometer index.
At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.53 points to 1,611.53 compared with 1,608.0 at Thursday’s close.
The benchmark index opened 0.97 of a point weaker at 1,607.03 and moved between 1,607.03 and 1,612.77 during the morning session.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 511 to 374, while 490 counters were unchanged, 1,321 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.82 billion units valued at RM1.08 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the market sentiment improved after the White House confirmed US President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next Thursday in South Korea, easing US-China tensions that weighed on markets earlier. “In view of a positive overnight performance on Wall Street, we expect the KLCI index to follow suit and trade on a firmer note, supported by buying interest in the technology sector,” it said in a note.
Among the heavyweight counters, Petronas Chemicals surged 16 sen to RM4.12, MISC bounced 22 sen to RM7.73, and Tenaga Nasional gained eight sen to RM13.20. Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.21 and RM8.33, respectively.
On the active side, Perak Transit and Tanco rose half-a-sen each to 33.5 sen and 88.5 sen, respectively, while Zetrix AI and Pharmaniaga fell one sen to 84.5 sen and 25.5 sen. TWL was flat at 2.5 sen.
Among the top gainers, Fraser & Neave jumped 46 sen to RM28.92, Malaysian Pacific rallied 22 sen to RM7.73, UWC gained 14 sen to RM4.09, and MI Technovation was 13 sen firmer at RM2.98.
Top decliners included United Plantations, which shed 42 sen to RM24, while Ayer Holdings slumped 38 sen to RM7.02, Telekom Malaysia slipped 19 sen to RM7.22 and Dutch Lady lost 16 sen to RM26.28.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 27.62 points to 12,058.65, the FBMT 100 Index widened 25.68 points to 11,792.61, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index grew 32.47 points to 12,146.72.
The FBM ACE Index garnered 19.31 points to 5,264.71, and the FBM 70 Index firmed 36.85 points to 17,162.67.
By sector, the Financial Services Index gained 28.26 points to 18,173.52, and the Plantation Index strengthened 7.86 points to 7,925.61. The Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 1.01 of a point to 172.30, and the Energy Index improved 5.08 points to 790.82.
-- BERNAMA