Bursa Malaysia Ends Morning Session Higher

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session higher, in tandem with regional peers, amid persistent buying in heavyweight stocks, led by banking counters. 

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 15.45 points, or 0.91 per cent, to 1,705.81 from Tuesday’s close of 1,690.36.

The benchmark index, which opened 25.58 points firmer at 1,715.94, moved between 1,700.20 and 1,715.94 during the morning.

In the broader market, gainers led losers 645 to 437, while 423 counters were unchanged, 1,120 were untraded, and 33 were suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.88 billion units valued at RM1.61 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said market sentiment took a breather on Tuesday, following US President Donald Trump’s progress towards de-escalating tensions despite losing the Strait of Hormuz stake, on the heels of the deferment of threats against Iran’s power infrastructure. 

“Nonetheless, we expect the sentiment to be short-lived, given Iran’s persistent refusal to negotiate.

“While the latter may push headline inflation higher in the near term, US Federal Reserve Jerome Powell’s remarks, alongside Fed Bank of New York president John Williams’ emphasis on current uncertainty, suggest the Fed still maintains a wait-and-see approach regarding further monetary tightening,” it said in a statement. 

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose 26 sen to RM11.26, Public Bank added eight sen to RM4.76, CIMB climbed 16 sen to RM7.71, and Tenaga Nasional grew by 10 sen to RM14.00. IHH Healthcare, however, fell four sen to RM8.94. 

On the most active list, VS Industry slipped 1.5 sen to 19 sen, and Top Glove dropped 3.5 sen to 65.5 sen. Zetrix AI and Bumi Armada inched up 1.5 sen each to 75.5 sen and 36 sen, respectively, and Sunway Healthcare increased three sen to RM2.03. 

Of the top gainers, Nestle widened 82 sen to RM99.94, Malaysian Pacific Industries jumped 76 sen to RM29.54, Dutch Lady Milk Industries and Allianz put on 50 sen each to RM32.20 and RM20.98, respectively, and Sunway Construction edged up 38 sen to RM6.75. 

As for the top losers, Nestle declined 40 sen to RM98.60, Petronas Dagangan fell 34 sen to RM21.82, Sunway slid 21 sen to RM4.99, and Petronas Gas was 18 sen weaker at RM18.04.

On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index advanced 118.21 points to 12,293.12, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 52.83 points to 12,170.04, the FBM Emas Index surged 118.94 points to 12,423.32, the FBM 70 Index grew 194.06 points to 17,058.75, and the FBM ACE Index perked 71.79 points to 4,318.70.

By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.23 of a point to 182.67, and the Plantation Index decreased 23.87 points to 8,960.36. The Financial Services Index strengthened 356.29 points to 20,380.29, and the Energy Index added 1.42 points to 798.96.

--BERNAMA