KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher, with the key index rising by 0.34 per cent amid buying support for banking counters.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.70 points to 1,675.27, from Thursday’s close of 1,669.57.
The benchmark had opened 0.87 points higher at 1,670.44 and between 1,670.28 and 1,676.60 during the morning session.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 478 to 440, with 518 counters unchanged, 1,213 remained untraded, and 24 were suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.57 billion shares worth RM1.18 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee said trading was still very much centred on blue chips, with retailers remaining sidelined.
“For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,665-1,675 range,” he added.
Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank surged 14 sen to RM10.78, CIMB jumped 11 sen to RM8.17, Hong Leong Bank bagged 20 sen to RM22.84, Public Bank added two sen to RM4.51, TNB was flat at RM13.46, and CelcomDigi eased one sen to RM3.35.
On the most active list, Zetrix AI and Tanco rose one sen each to 82.5 sen and RM1.24, VS Industry grew half-a-sen to 48.5 sen, MMAG was flat at seven sen, and Dagang Nexchange fell 1.5 sen to 34.5 sen.
Among the top gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries climbed 62 sen to RM33.02, Vitrox soared 40 sen to RM4.71, Fraser & Neave advanced 34 sen to RM36.04, and United Plantations was 32 sen higher at RM33.44.
As for the top decliners, Malayan Cement trimmed 19 sen to RM7.91, Panasonic sank 13 sen to RM7.33, Hong Leong Industries shed 12 sen to RM16.54, Analabs went down 10 sen to RM1.68.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index firmed 37.94 points to 12,387.36, the FBM Top 100 Index was up 39.19 points to 12,175.94, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was higher by 7.05 points to 12,174.09, the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 46.07 points to 17,365.65, and the FBM ACE Index fell 8.01 points to 4,974.20.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index strengthened by 169.74 points to 19,909.47, the Energy Index added 3.66 points to 773.97, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.15 of a point to 172.05, and the Plantation Index expanded by 35.13 points to 8,472.83.
— BERNAMA
