KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — Buying momentum lifted the FBM KLCI to finish the morning session 0.40 per cent better, supported by expectations that US crude inventories have dropped and on signs that the world’s top oil exporters will stick to agreed output cuts that took effect this week.
An Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) committee meeting to monitor compliance with the agreement is scheduled for January 21-22 in Vienna.
At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI advanced 6.59 points to 1,654.06 from yesterday's 1,647.47.
The FBM KLCI opened 0.52 of-a-point higher at 1,647.99 this morning,
partly due to the stronger performance of regional equity markets, as well as,
positive global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
Market breadth was positive with advancers outnumbering decliners 460 to 264 while 326 counters were unchanged, 677 untraded and 24 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.44 billion shares worth RM779.14 million.
Bursa Malaysia’s strength at midday was bolstered by trade/services and finance-linked companies, led by HapSeng, IHH and HLBank.
Heavyweights, HapSeng added eight sen to RM8.98, IHH increased two sen to RM6.41, HLBank advanced six sen to RM4.80 and RHBBank added three sen to RM4.80.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 48.72 points to 11,584.02, the FBMT100 Index increased 46.35 points to 11,293.93 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 52.87 points to 12,171.61.
The FBM 70 bagged 59.60 points to 13,237.05 while the FBM Ace depreciated 34.48 points to 4,832.95.
On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index advanced 20.88 points to 3,189.94,
The Finance Index bagged 83.98 points to 14,490.08 while the Plantation Index climbed 30.18 points to 7,837.63.
Among active stocks, Sumatec and DBE added half-a-sen each to 9.5 sen and five sen, respectively, GPacket rose 1.5 sen to 30.5 sen, Scomi gained 2.5 sen to 15.5 sen. — Bernama
