BURSA MALAYSIA ENDS MORNING SESSION FLAT

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session almost flat, in tandem with its regional peers amid Wall Street’s mixed overnight performance. 

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.01 per cent or 0.27 of-a-point to 1,599.82 from Thursday’s close of 1,600.09. 

The benchmark index opened 0.32 of-a-point higher at 1,600.41 and moved between 1,595.70 and 1,606.28 throughout the morning session. 

The broader market was slightly negative with decliners outpacing gainers 475  to 416 while 494 counters were unchanged, 1,088 untraded and 58 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.99 billion units worth RM1.37 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said despite being influenced by sentiment on Wall Street, it expects the local market to see buying interest in export-oriented sectors like technology and glove stocks, supported by the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hawkish pivot.

“Also, we remain positive on stocks linked to the data centre supply chain and the construction, utility, and building material sectors, as supported by the data centre investments earlier this year,” said the brokerage firm in a note. 

Technically, it spotted the benchmark index’s resistance level at 1,615-1,620, and support at 1,580-1,585.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and Hong Leong Bank dipped 4.0 sen each to RM10.02 and RM20.02 respectively, Public Bank was flat at RM4.49, CIMB shed 3.0 sen to RM8.01, and Tenaga slid 2.0 sen to RM13.92. 

For the most active stocks, YTL Corporation added 10 sen to RM2.65, Zen Tech was flat at 1.0 sen, YTL Power International rose 14 sen to RM4.22, Sarawak Cable improved 2.5 sen to 14 sen, JCY climbed 3.0 sen to 54 sen, and TWL was flat at 3.0 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 1.45 points to 12,265.21, the FBM Emas Index increased 7.82 points to 12,284.81, and the FBMT 100 Index strengthened by 7.23 points to 11,972.36.

The FBM 70 Index jumped 44.93 points to 18,479.02 and the FBM ACE Index rose 11.54 points to 5,267.94.

By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 0.09 of-a-point to 170.81, the Plantation Index declined 64.29 points to 7,521.82, and the Financial Services Index erased 33.22 points to 18,807.31, while the Energy Index gained 0.31 of-a-point to 811.37.

-- BERNAMA