KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia’s key index stayed higher at mid-morning on bargain hunting in selected heavyweights, led by banking and plantation counters.
At 11 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.74 points to 1,722.50 from Wednesday’s close of 1,713.76.
The benchmark index opened 3.0 points higher at 1,716.76.
Market breadth was negative, with losers outnumbering gainers 444 to 395. A total of 506 counters were unchanged, 1,390 untraded and 12 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.42 billion shares worth RM731.13 million.
Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank and CIMB rose two sen to RM10.98 and RM7.73, respectively. Public Bank added five sen to RM5.10, while Tenaga Nasional fell eight sen to RM14.30 and IHH Healthcare slid five sen to RM8.57.
Among actively traded counters, Nationgate added 14 sen to RM1.11, Ingenieur Gudang rose half a sen to four sen, Dagang Nexchange increased 1.5 sen to 46 sen, while Tanco and HHRG eased half a sen to 31 sen and 16 sen, respectively.
Among the top gainers, United Plantations gained 28 sen to RM34.98, while Petronas Dagangan and Fraser & Neave were up 24 sen to RM19.56 and RM29.34, respectively. SD Guthrie added 15 sen to RM6.77 and Petronas Chemicals advanced 14 sen to RM4.72.
Malaysian Pacific Industries led the losers, dropping 80 sen to RM44.94. UMS Integration fell 30 sen to RM8.01, Kluang Rubber erased 17 sen to RM6.28, Panasonic shed 13 sen to RM5.35 and Apollo was 12 sen weaker at RM5.73.
Among the broader indices, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 48.47 points to 12,551.26, the FBM Emas Index garnered 45.38 points to 12,695.11 and the FBMT 100 Index grew 46.80 points to 12,527.32.
The FBM 70 Index weakened 5.01 points to 17,880.77, and the FBM ACE Index eased 1.17 points to 4,910.58.
By sector, the Financial Services Index strengthened 59.55 points to 20,213.95, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.93 points to 188.68, the Plantation Index rose 70.10 points to 9,509.06, while the Energy Index slipped 2.91 points to 767.25. – BERNAMA
