KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — Bursa Malaysia extended gains to midday supported by buying in banking and finance stocks, led by CIMB.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) chalked up 13.5 points to 1,666.13 from Monday’s close of 1,652.63after moving between 1,656.47 and 1,666.39 throughout the morning session.
Contributing 4.24 points to the composite index, CIMB soared 25 sen to RM5.76 with 7.1 million shares changing hands.
Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank also rose 40 sen each to RM24.90 and RM20.50, Maybank added five sen to RM9.39, while RHB Bank gained four sen to RM5.29.
A dealer said sentiment in the market improved after China agreed to reduce tariffs on US autos to 15 per cent from the current 40 per cent.
This sparked hopes the two nations would make progress on their trade dispute, he said.
On Bursa, there were 334 gainers and 338 losers, while 284 counters unchanged, 949 untraded and 38 others suspended.
Volume stood at 1.16 billion units valued at RM873.66 million.
Among heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals added two sen to RM9.20, IHH Healthcare gained 10 sen to RM5.59, but Tenaga eased six sen to RM13.48.
Of actives, Priceworth inched up half-a-sen to five sen, Sanichi added one sen to 13 sen, but MyEG shed seven sen to 94 sen.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 2.47 points better at 11,402, the FBM Ace Index bagged 22.03 points to 4,568.25, the FBM Emas Index perked 63.64 points to 11,448.31 and the FBMT 100 Index increased 65.16 points to 11,338.46.
However, the FBM 70 contracted 28.93 points to 13,188.76.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 218.78 points to 17,357.35 and the Plantation Index improved 0.57 of-a-point to 6,633.09, but the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.07 of-a-point to 167.36. — Bernama
