KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended its positive momentum at midday, supported by sustained buying interest in plantation and financial services counters.
At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 14.96 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 1,687.70, up from Wednesday’s close of 1,672.74.
The index opened 1.75 points higher at 1,674.49 and traded within a range of 1,673.70 to 1,689.09 throughout the morning session.
Despite gains in the key index, market breadth remained negative, with losers outnumbering gainers 590 to 423, while 527 counters were unchanged, 1,118 were untraded, and 12 were suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.83 billion shares, valued at RM1.42 billion.
Analysts said persistent buying in plantation and financial stocks was driven by improved sentiment towards plantation counters amid firmer crude palm oil (CPO) price expectations, as well as sustained interest in banking stocks on expectations of stable earnings.
It was reported that major research houses have raised their CPO price assumptions to RM4,400 per tonne from RM4,250 for 2026 and to RM4,300 from RM4,100 for 2027.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional rose 14 sen each, to RM10.56 and RM14.22, respectively. Public Bank gained seven sen to RM4.81, and CIMB jumped 12 sen to RM7.32. IHH was flat at RM8.76.
Of the active stocks, VS Industry was flat at 22 sen, while SKP Resources perked up 2.5 sen to 37.5 sen, Zetrix edged down half-a-sen to 82 sen, and both HHRG and Pharmaniaga added one sen each to 10 sen and 26.5 sen, respectively.
As for the top gainers, Nestle rose RM2.76 to RM96.28, KL Kepong advanced 86 sen to RM20.36, United Plantation widened 82 sen to RM30.94, Batu Kawan grew 70 sen to RM20.30, and SD Guthrie garnered 26 sen to RM6.10.
Among the top losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries dropped RM1.02 to RM47.88, Fraser and Neave fell 58 sen to RM27.08, Press Metal slipped 30 sen to RM8.98, Allianz shed 28 sen to RM20.82, and MI Technovation lost 22 sen to RM4.84.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 77.09 points to 12,589.77, the FBM Top 100 Index increased 79.35 points to 12,426.85, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 35.40 points to 12,616.78.
The FBM Mid 70 Index declined 13.39 points to 18,392.83, and the FBM ACE Index went down 29.30 points to 4,696.36.
By sector, the Financial Services Index firmed 225.27 points to 19,546.30, the Energy Index bagged 8.04 points to 796.05, and the Plantation Index widened 276.41 points to 8,726.84, while the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.95 points to 198.84. – BERNAMA
