KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session higher, driven by bargain hunting activities.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 2.89 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 1,617.62 against yesterday's close of 1,614.73.
The barometer index opened 1.24 points higher at 1,615.97 and fluctuated between 1,615.97 and 1,622.49 throughout the morning session.
Gainers led losers 690 to 378, with 461 counters unchanged, 854 untraded and 20 others suspended. Turnover stood at 3.38 billion units worth RM2.13 billion.
In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said that data centres, artificial intelligence, and cloud services themes are materialising among stocks on the local front.
"We believe the technology sector's earnings have bottomed out and could translate to stronger price movements going forward.
"Traders could focus on hard disk drive and hardware suppliers, cybersecurity, and electronics manufacturing services,” it said, adding that there could also be spillover effects toward stocks within the construction, property, and utilities sectors amid rising data centre investments from multinational corporations.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 2.0 sen to RM10 and Tenaga Nasional increased 8.0 sen to RM13.78, while CIMB Group
and IHH Healthcare gained 1.0 sen each to RM6.96 and RM6.25, respectively.
Meanwhile, Public Bank slid 1.0 sen to RM4.12.
Among the actives, JAKS Resources increased 3.0 sen to 16 sen, Jati Tinggi Group climbed 8.0 sen to 43.5 sen, YNH Property added 12.0 sen to 60 sen, WCT Holdings rose 4.5 sen to 82 sen, and Datasonic Group was 1.5 sen higher at 56.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 48.02 points to 12,351.71, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 40.49 points to 11,936.26, the FBM Emas Shariah Index bounced 71.18 points to 12,647.36, the FBM 70 Index added 137.88 points to 17,778.73, and the FBM ACE Index increased 47.31 points to 5,547.25.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index ticked up 9.79 points to 17,647.22, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.30 of-a-point to 197.54, the Energy Index increased 2.07 points to 967.71, and the Plantation Index gained 31.28 points to 7,144.14, while the Telecommunications and Media Index eased 0.84 of-a-point to 611.75. - Bernama
