KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was in positive territory at midday with strong buying support in heavyweight counters.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 10.11 points to 1,629.24, up 0.62 per cent, from Friday’s close of 1,619.13.
The benchmark index had opened 2.40 points firmer at 1,621.53, and moved between 1,620.49 and 1,633.52 throughout the morning trading session.
Market breadth was positive with 480 gainers compared to 427 losers, while 528 counters unchanged, 1,225 untraded and nine suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.59 billion units valued at RM1.09 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said overall market breadth remains on the softer side, due to lingering pressure on overextended technology stocks and uncertainty surrounding the prolonged US government shutdown.
"However, we believe the transportation and plantation sectors should attract buying interest, as
overall sector earnings remain relatively healthy. Moreover, we deem that elevated crude palm oil prices in recent quarters should translate into stronger earnings potential for planters,” it said in a note.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added six sen to RM9.97, SD Guthrie gained 10 sen to RM5.50, CIMB was six sen firmer at RM7.59, Tenaga Nasional increased 10 sen to RM13.32 and Axiata inched up six sen to RM2.66.
On the most active list, MMAG rose 1.5 sen to 10 sen, Perak Transit advanced two sen to 31 sen, Zetrix AI accumulated 0.5 sen to 85.5 sen, while TWL and EA Holdings
were flat at 2.5 sen and half-a-sen respectively
Among the top gainers, Fraser & Neave rose RM1.12 to RM28.72, Hong Leong Industries gained 20 sen to RM14.94, Hong Leong Bank bagged 24 sen to RM20.98, and VSTech edged up 17 sen to RM4.25.
As for the top losers, Chin Teck Plantations slid 32 sen to RM10.56, PIE Industrial declined 17 sen to RM2.72 and Oriental Holdings was 11 sen down at RM6.71.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index inched up 62.15 points to 11,855.64, while the FBM Emas Index climbed 61.02 points to 12,095.10.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 66.21 points to 12,114.54, the FBM ACE Index climbed 21.15 points to 5,071.88, and the FBM Mid 70 Index rose 39.50 points to 16,966.34.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index gained 52.97 points to 8,156.05, the Financial Services Index jumped 112.78 points to 18,450.03, and the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 0.39 of a point to 168.79.while the Energy Index inched down 1.74 points to 764.72. - Bernama
