Bursa Malaysia Higher At Midday On Selective Buying In Small Caps

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session marginally higher, supported by buying interest in small-cap stocks, while several heavyweight counters saw intermittent profit-taking activities.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.31 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 1,747.62 from Wednesday’s close of 1,746.31.

The benchmark index, which opened 2.79 points higher at 1,749.10, moved between 1,748.18 and 1,750.59 during the session.

However, market breadth was negative with losers outnumbering gainers 506 to 454, while 557 counters were unchanged, 1,210 untraded and 27 suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.15 billion units valued at RM1.30 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng noted that daily volume remained above the four billion shares threshold, possibly illustrating heightened trading activities among the smaller caps.

“For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,740-1,760 range,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd said sentiment is likely to remain cautious and headline-driven, with markets closely tracking developments from the United States President Donald Trump–Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting in Beijing as a key near-term catalyst.

“At the same time, attention is turning to the ongoing first quarter (1Q 2026) earnings season, where investors will closely scrutinise corporate guidance for signals on whether resilient fundamentals can withstand intensifying external pressures, including geopolitical risks, potential global supply chain disruptions, elevated energy prices, and emerging growth headwinds,” it added.

Heavyweights Maybank and IHH Healthcare rose two sen to RM11.20 and RM9.01, respectively and CIMB added one sen to RM7.93, while Public Bank fell two sen to RM4.86 and Tenaga Nasional slid eight sen to RM14.64.

Among the most active counters, Nationgate increased 7.5 sen to 86.5 sen and GIIB gained 2.5 sen to 29.5 sen, while Zetrix AI was half a sen weaker at 83 sen and SMRT lost two sen to 25 sen.

Of the top gainers, Nestle advanced RM2.26 to RM101.90, VSTecs added 43 sen to RM5.90, Malaysian Pacific grew 30 sen to RM44.10 and Kelington expanded 29 sen to RM7.01.

As for the top losers, Petronas Dagangan and Fraser & Neave went down 16 sen to RM20.94 and RM29, respectively. Paragon lost 14 sen to RM4.77, while Pentamaster and United Plantations shed 12 sen to RM4.38 and RM30, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index grew 2.27 points to 12,938.52, the FBM Top 100 Index strengthened 0.91 of a point to 12,775.11, the FBM Emas Shariah Index recovered 8.05 points to 12,876.10, the FBM Mid 70 Index weakened 35.98 points to 18,512.82, and the FBM ACE Index rose 7.23 points to 4,759.42.

By sector, the Financial Services Index eased 3.79 points to 20,298.26, and the Energy Index fell 5.11 points to 800.83.

The Plantation Index declined 20.88 points to 8,698.37, while the Industrial Products and Services Index was up 0.91 of-a-point to 200.64.

-- BERNAMA