BURSA MALAYSIA CONTINUES UPTREND AT MIDDAY

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia extended its gains at midday on sustained buying interest in selected heavyweight stocks, supported by the firmer tone in most regional markets.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.98 points to 1,713.79, from Wednesday’s close of 1,705.81.

The barometer index had opened 8.08 points higher at 1,713.89, and fluctuated between 1,711.29 and 1,717.66 during the morning trading session.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outnumbering decliners 508 to 395, while 555 counters were unchanged, 1,254 untraded and nine suspended. 

Turnover stood at 1.48 billion shares worth RM1.53 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd believes buying interest may spill over to the local market after positive progress towards de-escalating trade tensions following US President Donald Trump signalled a pullback from planned tariff increases on several European Union economies.

“Sizeable order books and attractive valuations should underpin resilient trading interest in construction players such as Binastra, Mitrajaya, and Inta Bina.

“Also, Mitrajaya’s project wins reflect that project pipelines within the value chains remain robust. Hence, we view this as positive for the broader downstream value chain, particularly substations as well as underground and overhead utilities,” it said in a note today.

Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank rose 12 sen to RM11.22, Public Bank added six sen to RM4.80, CIMB Group increased eight sen to RM8.30 and IHH Healthcare gained three sen to RM8.49, and Nestle added RM2.60 to RM118.20.

On the most active list, SMRT Holdings perked up 1.5 sen to 20.5 sen, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings edged up two sen to RM7.42, IJM Corp advanced 13 sen to RM2.62, and Zetrix AI added half-a-sen to 82 sen while ACE Market debutant Guan Huat Sen Holdings shed two sen to 23 sen.

As for the top gainers, Malayan Cement rose 20 sen to RM7.77, Allianz Malaysia jumped 60 sen to RM22.18, United Plantations was 36 sen higher at RM30.66 and Scientex garnered 22 sen to RM3.85.

Among the leading decliners, Fraser & Neave Holdings slid 16 sen to RM36, Kelington Group slipped 10 sen to RM5.37, Solarvest and Petronas Gas lost lost eight sen each to RM2.82 and RM18.72 and Mercury Industries decreased 5.5 sen to 62 sen.

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index rose 56.94 points to 12,621.88, the FBM Top 100 Index gained 59.52 points to 12,418.56, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 27.73 points to 12,271.22, the FBM Mid 70 Index climbed 91.66 points to 17,544.27, and the FBM ACE Index increased 0.45 of-a-point to 4,919.16.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 187.96 points to 20,736.62, the Energy Index gained 0.96 of-a-point to 771.64, the Industrial Products and Services Index advanced 0.57 of-a-point to 175.64, and the Plantation Index rose 53.07 points to 8,351.20.

-- BERNAMA