BURSA MALAYSIA HIGHER AT MIDDAY ON STRONG BUYING IN HEAVYWEIGHTS

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session on a positive note as persistent buying activities in selected heavyweights and fresh catalysts lifted market sentiment.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.35 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 1,628.24 from Wednesday’s close of 1,623.89. 

The benchmark index, which opened 4.55 points firmer at 1,628.44, moved between 1,624.85 and 1,629.49 during the session.

Market breadth was positive, with 649 gainers outpacing 372 decliners. A total of 466 counters were unchanged, 1,299 untraded and 10 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 3.37 billion units valued at RM1.73 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI as expected recovered after a four-day decline to above the 1,620 mark.

“Though foreign selling remains evident, we believe prevailing decent valuations of the local bourse should attract some stock accumulation going forward. As such, we anticipate the index to hover within the 1,620-1,630 range today,” he said.

Among heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank was flat at RM9.93, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional added four sen each to RM4.32 and RM13.22. CIMB and IHH Healthcare fell two sen to RM7.55 and RM8.23 respectively.

On the most active list, Tanco and Zetrix AI rose one sen each to RM1.02 and 85.5 sen. Perak Transit and Malayan United were flat at 28.5 sen and 6.0 sen, respectively, while Aquawalk lost 1.5 sen to 36.5 sen.

Top gainers included Nestle, which garnered 80 sen to RM113.10, Malaysian Pacific rose 58 sen to RM31.00, United Plantations gained 56 sen to RM28.56, Petronas Dagangan increased 42 sen to RM21.54 and Kelington inched up 25 sen to RM5.41.

Among the top losers, Sunway Construction lost 8.0 sen to RM5.78, Chin Hin and Mega First decreased 5.0 sen to RM2.02 and RM3.48 respectively, and Eng Kah slid 4.5 sen to 23.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index improved 45.79 points to 11,845.53, the FBM Emas Index was 50.03 points firmer at 12,075.33, the FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened 57.17 points to 12,071.47, the FBM Mid 70 Index jumped 126.99 points to 16,939.38 and the FBM ACE Index soared 41.95 points to 4,964.70. 

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index grew 23.0 points to 8,248.53, the Financial Services Index garnered 37.92 points to 18,481.98, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.74 of a point to 166.07, and the Energy Index expanded 1.06 points to 759.75.  

-- BERNAMA