KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended the morning session 8.92 points higher at 1,612.52 lifted by gains in finance-related blue chips.

The key index moved between 1,612.76 and 1,600.70 throughout the morning session.

Market breadth, however, was negative with decliners outpacing gainers by 237 to 388 while 252 counters were unchanged, 939 untraded and 20 others suspended. 

Turnover stood at 974.34 million shares worth RM648.98 million.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank garnered seven sen to RM8.48, Public Bank gained two sen to RM17.78, TNB improved 18 sen to RM11.40 and Axiata edged up 10 sen to RM5.91.

On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index chalked up 49.97 points to 11,079.09, the FBMT100 Index expanded 54.46 points to 10,807.23 while the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 57.08 points to 11,608.42.

The FBM 70 appreciated 40.33 points to 11,930.89, and the FBM Ace dropped 77.76 points to 5,400.87.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index climbed 74.15 points to 14,090.06, the Plantation Index gained 5.35 points to 6,895.42, while the Industrial Index increased 18.31 points to 3,103.17.

Among the active stocks, Ingenuity Consolidated added half-a-sen to seven sen while UEM Sunrise eased one sen to RM1.05 and iDimension gained one sen to 91.5 sen.

On regional markets, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 0.42 per cent to 2,875.25, Japan’s Nikkei 225 eased 1.50 per cent to 17,987.75 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.87 per cent to 21,691.43.  — Bernama