KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session on a firm note, with the barometer index lifted by buying in heavyweight stocks led by the financial services sector.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.15 points to  1,486.79 from Tuesday’s close of 1,478.64

After opening 0.31 point easier at 1,478.33 this morning, the local index moved between 1,474.95 and 1,487.25 throughout the morning session. 

On the broader market, losers continued to lead gainers by 464 to 270, with 349 counters unchanged, 1,998 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.44 billion shares worth RM989.12 million.

A dealer said local stocks reacted positively to Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) rate cut announced yesterday amid lingering Covid-19 fears.

BNM announced a 25 basis points rate cut, the second for this year, to cushion the economy from any associated risk arising from the coronavirus outbreak, a move in line with dovish measures undertaken by several central banks across the globe which contributed to the positive performance on the local bourse, he said.

"The performance was in line with the better performance of Asian stock markets, despite overnight losses on Wall Street, after an emergency US interest cut aimed at defusing fears over the Coronavirus outbreak failed to cheer the market,” he said.

He added the interest cut, which complements the RM20 billion stimulus package, should help address the downside risk to the economy from the coronavirus impact more than trade issues.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei index added 0.30 per cent to 21,146.87, Singapore’s Straits Times lndex gained 0.08 per cent to 3,021.85, South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index climbed 2.06 per cent to 2,055.64., Shanghai’s Stock Exchange Index was up 0.30 per cent at 2,994.80 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 0.12 per cent better at 26,317.56.    

Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained seven sen to RM8.48, Tenaga added two sen to RM12.52, Public Bank rose 14 sen to RM17.90 and CIMB increased four sen to RM4.54.

IHH was flat at RM5.60.

Of the actives, MLabs edged up half-a-sen to three sen, Advanced Synergy and MTouche advanced 1.5 sen each to 14 sen and 16.5 sen respectively, Careplus added two sen to 29.5 sen while Vortex eased half-a-sen to 7.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 39.95 points to 10,471.19, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 34.80 points to 11,105.79, the FBMT 100 Index jumped 44.25 points to 10,297.26 and the FBM 70 gained 4.24 points to 12,735.55.

The FBM Ace slipped 6.42 points to 5,242.58.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index expanded 2.37 points to 134.71, the Financial Services Index surged 100.25 points to 14,413.57 but the Plantation Index slipped 6.83 points to 6,743.22. — Bernama