KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 — Anticipating some positive news from the recalibrated Budget 2016, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished the morning session 0.27 per cent better, a rebound from lower opening.

At lunch break, the FBM KLCI advanced 4.39 points to 1,635.93, from yesterday’s 1,631.54.

The key index had opened 0.06 point lower at 1,631.48, prompted by the weak overnight performance of the Wall Street.

Market breadth, however, was still negative with decliners outpacing gainers 429 to 250, while 305 counters were unchanged, 793 untraded and 68 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 862.76 million shares worth RM667.02 million.

Bursa Malaysia’s strength at mid-day was bolstered by gains seen in finance-linked companies, led by plantation counters, banking and oil and gas.

Heavyweights Sime Darby added 10 sen for RM7.33, KL Kepong surged 32 sen to RM23.08, Petronas Gas rose 24 sen to RM22.12, Petronas Dagangan chalked up 20 sen to RM24.62, while CIMB bagged 4 sen to RM4.08.

On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index rose 15.73 points to 11,351.81, the FBMT100 Index increased 18.34 points to 11,060.25, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 16.17 points to 12,249.84.

The FBM 70 lost 20.11 points to 12,568.60, while the FBM Ace appreciated 12.37 points to 5,805.46.

On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index advanced 14.63 points to 3,178.89, the Finance Index bagged 13.25 points to 13,609.47, while the Plantation Index climbed 25.13 points to 7,516.94.

Among active stocks, Xidelang and AirAsia X improved half-a-sen each to 5.5 sen and 23.5 sen, respectively, Xinghe was flat at 5.5 sen, while XOX Bhd added one to 19.5 sen. — Bernama