KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia remained in positive territory at midday, supported by gains in selected banking stocks, ahead of Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) overnight policy rate (OPR) decision on Thursday.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.07 points to 1,701.61 from Tuesday's close of 1,700.54.
The benchmark index opened 0.42 points higher at 1,700.96.
The market breadth was negative with losers trumping gainers 750 to 332, while 466 counters were unchanged, 1,224 untraded and 17 suspended.
Turnover totalled 2.47 billion units worth RM1.61 billion.
The BNM Monetary Policy Committee is set to meet tomorrow, with market consensus expecting the OPR to remain unchanged at 2.75 per cent for the rest of 2026.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM10.56, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.92, CIMB Group
fell four sen to RM7.81, Tenaga Nasional declined 10 sen to RM13.66, IHH Healthcare slipped eight sen to RM8.07, while AMMB Holdings rose seven sen to RM6.82.
On the most active list, Zetrix AI fell 2.5 sen to 24 sen, Focus Dynamics gained half a sen to one sen, Ingenieur Gudang rose one sen to 4.5 sen, Velesto Energy added 1.5 sen to 24.5 sen and Ni Hsin Group advanced two sen to 26 sen.
Among the top gainers, United Plantations rose 48 sen to RM32.52, Hengyuan Refining gained 35 sen to RM2.88, Petronas Chemicals added 30 sen to RM4.37, Manulife Holdings increased 25 sen to RM2.57, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong added 24 sen to RM22.08.
Among the top losers, Nestle fell RM1.62 to RM97.08, Malaysian Pacific declined 66 sen to RM39.60, BLD Plantation slipped 50 sen to RM14.50, Hong Leong Industries eased 34 sen to RM17.50 and Fraser & Neave shed 28 sen to RM25.00.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 18.64 points to 12,586.36, the FBMT 100 Index declined 18.53 points to 12,395.31, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 12.28 points to 12,379.70, the FBM 70 Index dropped 139.01 points to 17,777.48 and the FBM ACE Index eased 36.48 points to 5,150.00.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index advanced 78.07 points to 9,393.35, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.98 points to 186.57, and the Energy Index gained 9.84 points to 799.68, while the Financial Services Index fell 31.53 points to 20,006.94. - Bernama
