KUALA LUMPUR, April 17 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session higher after a sluggish start, supported by gains in heavyweights, led by the consumer products, telecommunications, and banking counters.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 7.86 points or 0.53 per cent to 1,484.78 from Wednesday’s close of 1,476.92.
The benchmark index opened 1.75 points lower at 1,475.17, and moved between 1,473.21 and 1,486.28 during the session.
On the broader market, gainers surpassed decliners 382 to 355, with 419 counters unchanged, 1,254 untraded and 19 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.52 billion shares worth RM760.82 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the recent visit by China’s President Xi Jinping to Malaysia saw both nations exchanging 31 memoranda of understanding and documents, covering investments and collaborations across various sectors, potentially boosting market sentiment.
“Beneficiaries may include tourism, plantation, technology, and construction-related counters,” it said in a note today.
Separately, the stockbroking firm said that it also remains positive on cybersecurity-related stocks, which may also be relatively insulated from the United States tariff headwinds.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Tenaga Nasional and IHH Healthcare rose 4.0 sen to RM9.88, RM13.48 and RM6.86, respectively, while Public Bank advanced 3.0 sen to RM4.33, and CIMB Group was flat at RM6.71.
As for the actives, NEXG climbed 3.5 sen to 29.5 sen, and both MY EG Services and Pertama Digital added half-a-sen each to 91.5 sen and 14.5 sen, respectively, while NationGate and Bina Puri were flat at RM1.17 and 34.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 49.01 points to 11,012.74, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 48.77 points to 10,798.63, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 53.72 points to 10,828.63, the FBM 70 Index strengthened 36.41 points to 15,462.51, and the FBM ACE Index increased 13.82 points to 4,529.05.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 63.09 points to 17,780.76, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.27 of-a-point to 143.75, and the Energy Index jumped 9.43 points to 656.18.
Meanwhile, the Plantation Index slipped 4.49 points to 7,180.00.
-- BERNAMA
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