KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — Bursa Malaysia stayed higher at mid-morning today, spurred by buying momentum mainly in financial and construction stocks, dealers said. 

At 11.00am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) recovered 7.07 points to 1,629.14, from Friday's closing of 1,622.07.

The benchmark index opened 0.49 of-a-point firmer at 1,622.56. 

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 446 to 233, while 335 counters were unchanged, 900 untraded and 31 others suspended.

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Turnover stood at 1.64 billion shares worth RM1.07 billion.

AmInvestment Bank’s Equity Research said it maintained its end-2019 FBM KLCI target of 1,820 points backed by the positive revival of Bandar Malaysia project.

“We believe this signifies the return to normalcy of Malaysia-China relations,” it said in a research note.  

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It also follows the recent revival of another Chinese-led project,  the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL),  after the project turnkey contractor China Communications Construction Company Ltd agreed to cut the project cost by RM21.5 billion to RM44 billion from RM65.5 billion. 

“We believe the market was caught by surprise by Putrajaya’s sudden departure from its more “restrictive” views towards Chinese businesses following the change in power post-14th general election (GE14),” it added. 

Among heavyweights, Maybank gained nine sen to RM9.18, Public Bank was up by six sen to RM22.58, Tenaga rose 12 sen to RM12.26, IHH added two sen to RM5.58, while Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM8.94.

Of the actively-traded stocks, Ekovest increased 26.5 sen to 93.5 sen, Econpile was 13 sen firmer at 71.5 sen and Iris added half-a-sen to 17 sen. 

For the top gainers, Tasek improved 45 sen to RM5.60, DWL rose 39 sen to RM1.70 and Nestle bagged 30 sen to RM146.90. 

The FBM Emas Index advanced 80.76 points to 11,577.99, the FBMT 100 Index was 73.46 points better at 11,398.34 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 87.83 points to 11,777.85.

The FBM 70 jumped 190.51 points to 14,573.02 and the FBM Ace was higher by 8.65 points to 4,701.50.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 105.17 points to 16,850.43, the Plantation Index perked 17.21 points to 7,246.12 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.57 of-a-point higher at 168.87. — Bernama