KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 — Buying support for blue chips and penny stocks helped Bursa Malaysia end the morning session higher despite regional markets posting a mixed performance.
At the lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained two points to end the morning session at 1,784.51.
The key barometer moved between 1,781.61 and 1,786.15 throughout the session.
Among the top gainers were Dutch Lady, which gained 34 sen to RM46.66, Pintaras Jaya garnered 32 sen to RM5.75, Petronas Dagangan garnered 24 sen to RM26.68 and BIMB Holdings advanced 22 sen to RM4.54.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 117.15 points to 14,349.01 and the Singapore’s Straits Times declined 19.68 points to 3,234.45, while Shanghai Composite added 3.02 points to 2,032.44.
Back home, the Finance Index surged 64.5 points to 16,909.79, the Industrial Index added 4.82 points to 3,021.38 but the Plantation Index eased 7.16 points to 8,341.28.
The FBM Emas Index advanced 14.57 points to 12,419.15, the FBMT100 was up 14.59 points to 12,164.93, the FBM 70 Index improved 21.06 points to 14,246.15 and the FBM ACE Index jumped 35.52 points to 5,112.89.
Losers led gainers 304 to 297, with 237 counters unchanged, 738 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 845.999 million shares worth RM598.517 million.
Among actives, Daya Materials gained 3.5 sen to 31 sen, Iris Corp added 2.5 sen to 24 sen, Ingenuity Consolidated inched up half-a-sen to 8.5 sen and Sona Petroleum was up 1.5 sen to 43 sen.
Heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM10.36, CIMB went up three sen to RM7.87, Axiata was flat at RM6.83 while Sime Darby and Maxis each fell one sen to RM9.50 and RM7.08, respectively. — Bernama
