KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 ― Bursa Malaysia stayed positive at mid-morning, supported by buying interest in most heavyweights, mid-sized and small capitalisation-linked counters, dealers said.
At 11.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 6.25 points to 1,689.86 from Monday's close of 1,683.61.
The index opened 4.39 points better at 1,688.
Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 293 to 173, while 253 counters were unchanged, 1,135 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover was at 472.67 million shares worth RM266.5 million.
OANDA senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said globally, the stock markets consolidated their recent gains overnight, as the State of the Union passed without incident.
“The continuing Lunar New Year holidays will ensure that trading remains subdued in Asian markets with the attention on Australia and New Zealand.
“As a result, traders will be looking to see if the foreign exchange ructions overflow onto the stock markets,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and Axiata advanced four sen each to RM9.61, RM24.86 and RM4.06 respectively, while CIMB and Hong Leong Bank were flat at RM5.65 and RM20.80 respectively.
Of the most actives, Sino Hua-An added two sen to 19.5 sen, Seacera improved 1.5 sen to 26.5 sen, VS Industry gained three sen to 84.5 sen and Permaju Industries rose one sen to 37.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 47.33 points firmer at 11,720.47, the FBMT 100 Index increased 42.62 points to 11,599.05 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 55.79 points to 11,598.94.
The FBM Ace Index declined 1.36 points to 4,471.82 and the FBM 70 gained 49.96 points to 13,924.95.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 50.97 points to 17,620.79, the Plantation Index increased 32.43 points to 7,301.14, and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.11 of-a-point better at 161.53. ― Bernama
