KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session firmer in tandem with regional peers, bolstered by gains in index-linked counters and small capitalisation stocks.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished at 1716.26, up 12.69 points from yesterday's close of 1,716.26.
The key index moved in positive territory, ranging between 1,706.61 and 1,717.02, throughout the morning session.
Market breadth was positive with gainers trouncing losers 508 to 267, while 372 counters were unchanged, 762 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Volume stood at 1.99 billion units valued at RM1.35 billion.
A dealer said sentiment in global equity markets improved as fears over a trade war between the United States and China subsided, spurring risk appetite.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 surged 2.19 per cent to 22,674.54, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.58 per cent to 28,645.70 and Singapore's Straits Times added 0.26 per cent to 3,261.45.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose five sen to RM9.55, Tenaga bagged 10 sen to RM14.58, Petronas Chemicals earned six sen to RM8.59, CIMB perked nine sen to RM5.72 while Public Bank was flat at RM23.00.
Among actives, MRCB shed three sen to 71 sen, MyEG rose six sen to 92 sen, George Kent advanced 13 sen to RM1.42, and Nova MSC was flat at 19 sen.
The FBM Emas Index increased 93.97 points to 12,108.86, the FBM70 climbed 117.22 points to 14,736.67 and the FBMT100 Index bagged 89.9 points to 12,038.16.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 101.41 points higher at 12,196.75 and the FBM Ace Index earned 17.75 points to 5,335.49.
Sectorwise, the Finance Index soared 97.96 points to 17,009.93, the Industrial Index gained 16.59 points to 3,166.3 and the Plantation Index added 6.12 points to 7,495.88. — Bernama
