BURSA MALAYSIA UP AT MIDDAY, LED BY CONSUMER AND UTILITIES COUNTERS

KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index ended the morning trading session on a positive note, buoyed by buying interest, particularly in the consumer products, plantation, and utilities counters.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 0.83 of a point, or 0.04 per cent, to 1,711.72 from Thursday’s close of 1,710.89.

The benchmark index opened 1.84 points higher at 1,712.73 and moved between 1,708.45 and 1,716.28 throughout the session.

However, market breadth was negative with 539 decliners outpacing 340 gainers. A total of 486 counters were unchanged, 1,409 were untraded, and 137 were suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.60 billion units valued at RM1.36 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects market volatility to persist in the near term due to the conflict in West Asia. “We reiterate our stance to reduce market exposure and maintain healthy cash levels to deploy once clarity improves,” it said.

Furthermore, the brokerage said, given the rise in the plantation index, traders may continue to seek opportunities in related stocks amid rising crude palm oil prices, as it believes the plantation index has a high correlation with the Brent oil price.

Among the heavyweight counters, Sunway Healthcare jumped 11 sen to RM2.40, while Petronas Gas bounced 46 sen to RM18.08, and Maybank gained two sen to RM11.46. CelcomDigi climbed five sen to RM3.04, and YTL Corporation added one sen to RM1.66.

On the most active list, VS Industry fell 4.5 sen to 24 sen, while Zetrix AI and GDB were flat at 74 sen and 37.5 sen, respectively. Tanco slid three sen to RM1.41, and Top Glove added two sen to 56.5 sen.

Of the top gainers, Fraser & Neave gained RM1.32 to RM31.02, Nestle went up 92 sen to RM98.92, and Malaysian Pacific rose 42 sen to RM29.44.

Top losers included United Plantations, which slid 20 sen to RM33.40, while Batu Kawan went down 18 sen to RM19.70, Mulpha shed 15 sen to RM2.80, and LPI Capital fell 12 sen to RM14.24.

On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index climbed 11.45 points to 12,333.67, the FBM Emas Shariah Index garnered 18.75 points to 12,248.28, and the FBM Emas Index improved 5.27 points to 12,463.71.

The FBM 70 Index strengthened 39.68 points to 17,106.14, while the FBM ACE Index slipped 18.60 points to 4,336.16.

By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 0.53 of a point to 182.19, and the Financial Services Index dropped 32.99 points to 20,397.14, while the Plantation Index gained 4.21 points to 8,661.16 and the Energy Index eased 5.30 points to 800.96.

-- BERNAMA