IHH, PETRONAS DAGANGAN KEEP FBM KLCI ABOVE 1,600 MARK AMID MIXED MARKET

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 (Bernama) -- IHH and Petronas Dagangan continued to support Bursa Malaysia’s main index above the 1,600 mark, amid selling in mid-cap stocks that led to a mixed market breadth.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 7.44 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 1,604.89, from Monday’s close of 1,597.45.  

The benchmark index opened higher, adding 3.05 points to 1,600.50 and subsequently moved between 1,596.03 and 1,605.33 throughout the morning session.

Decliners outpaced advancers 509 to 334 while 443 counters remained unchanged, 1,176 untraded, and 26 suspended.

Turnover totalled 1.6 billion units valued at RM1.04 billion.

Regional bourses were mixed, offering limited leads to the domestic market, as some investors stayed on the sideline ahead of the release of key US economic data later in the week. 

The Federal Reserve's meeting minutes and US PCE inflation data are in focus as investors evaluate whether the pace of interest rate cuts will slow following Donald Trump's election victory, along with his proposed tariffs.

The appointment of hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as the new US Treasury Secretary to lead the critical economic policy position offered a sense of relief to markets, with investors hopeful that his leadership could reduce the strain of aggressive tariff policies.

At home, heavyweights IHH led the FBM KLCI uptrend, gaining 25 sen to RM7.25 amid the healthcare sector’s earnings optimism, followed by Petronas Dagangan jumping 90 sen to RM18.32 after its impressive third-quarter net profit performance.

Petronas Chemicals and Sime Darby added six sen to RM4.86 and RM2.30 respectively, while Public Bank rose three sen to RM4.48.

In active stocks, Zentech remained unchanged at 1.0 sen, 3Ren added 2.0 sen to 41.5 sen, while MYEG and Lay Hong dropped half-a-sen to 91 sen and 37 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 16.26 points to 12,189.58, the FBMT 100 Index rose 18.49 points to 11,897.14 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 28.21 points to 12,138.15.

The FBM 70 Index eased 106.85 points to 17,951.07 and the FBM ACE Index edged down 17.79 points to 5,145.66.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index grew 8.34 points to 7,509.99 but the Financial Services Index slipped 6.50 points to 19,282.53, the Industrial Products and Services Index lost 0.06 of-a-point to 172.83 and the Energy Index fell 7.73 points to 821.75.

-- BERNAMA