KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session trading marginally higher in a tight range today, on mild buying in selected blue-chip stocks amid the mixed performance of regional peers, dealers said.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 0.12 of-a-point higher at 1,857.99 from yesterday's close of 1,857.87.
The key index opened 1.47 points firmer at 1,859.34 and moved between 1,854.50 and 1,860.56 throughout the morning session.
Market breadth was negative with 474 gainers against 229 losers, while 368 counters were unchanged, 840 untraded and 69 others suspended.
Volume stood at 936.77 million units valued at RM738.91 million.
A dealer said the local bourse was taking the cue from the lower close of Wall Street on continuing slide in technology stocks.
“The FBM KLCI would likely remain volatile over the short-term amid concern over the US technology sector and trade discussion development between the US and China,” said the dealer.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM10.52, Public Bank rose four sen to RM24.00, Tenaga improved 16 sen to RM15.96, CIMB added one sen to RM7.18, but Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM8.24.
Of the active counters, Sapura Energy fell one sen to 49 sen, DBE was flat at 3.5 sen, while Iris added one sen to 18.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index fell 7.00 points to 12,985.85, the FBMT 100 Index inched down 3.05 points to 12,784.99 and the FBM 70 decreased 16.96 points to 15,433.62.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 15.45 points to 13,144.46 and the FBM Ace shed 70.54 points to 5,403.48.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 20.61 points firmer at 18,162.12, but the Industrial Index was down 5.75 points to 3,223.50 and the Plantation Index slipped 13.48 points to 7,993.44. ― Bernama
