KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-afternoon today as sentiment was further improved by the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) decision to overhaul its policy framework.
At 3.11pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,657.81, up 2.03 points against yesterday’s close of 1,655.78, after opening 2.06 points lower at 1,653.72 this morning.
Gainers led losers 361 to 307, with 374 counters unchanged, 648 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.13 billion shares worth RM975.22 million.
A dealer said most regional markets also started to recover after the BoJ maintained the 0.1 per cent negative interest rate and decided to continue buying long-term government bonds at a pace so that the balance of its holdings increases by about US$781 billion (RM3.23 trillion) per year.
"Next, the market will monitor the US Federal Reserve policy review later in the day for clues on the timing of the next rate hike," he added.
Of the heavyweights, Tenaga was flat at RM14.40, Maybank fell one sen to RM7.79, Public Bank eased two sen to RM19.54 and IHH declined seven sen to RM6.51.
Among actives, Lion Diversified and Lion Corporation fell half-a-sen each to 5.5 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively, while FGV rose 11 sen to RM2.36.
The FBM Emas Index added 22.44 points to 11,702.06, the FBMT100 Index improved 21.83 points to 11,404.61 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 17.27 points better at 12,332.05.
The FBM Ace fell 21.83 points to 5,220.47 but the FBM 70 gained 54.72 points to 13,675.8.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 2.96 points to 14,232.75, the Plantation Index put on 38.39 points to 7,873.51 and the Industrial Index increased 4.24 points to 3,103.34. — Bernama
