KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — Bursa Malaysia traded higher at the close of the morning session on continuous bargain-hunting activities.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 10.37 points to 1,609.56, led mainly by Public Bank, Digi and Maybank.
The benchmark index opened 0.13 of-a-point higher at 1,599.32.
Gainers outpaced losers 345 to 282, with 344 counters unchanged, 940 untraded and 36 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.02 billion worth RM553.19 million.
An analyst said major Asian equities markets were buoyed by stronger overnight Wall Street equities.
At the close yesterday, the Dow gained 214.66 points to 25,862.68 while the S&P 500 rose 25.36 points to 2,876.32 on upbeat US corporate earnings results, economic data and oil prices.
He said this emboldened investors to snap up local heavyweights and lower liners.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank added 18 sen to RM22.4, while Digi and Dialog went up eight sen each to RM4.73 and RM3.30, respectively.
Maybank and Sime Darby Plantation increased five sen each to RM9.01 and RM4.69, respectively.
Of the actively-traded stocks, Lambo expanded half-a-sen to seven sen, Impiana Hotel was unchanged at four sen, while Focus Dynamics and AirAsia X advanced half-a-sen each to 11.5 sen and 23 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index was up 71.75 points to 11,335.13, the FBMT 100 Index jumped 72.84 points to 11,169.96 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 67.73 points to 11,499.91.
The FBM 70 appreciated 94.29 points to 13,912.99 and the FBM Ace rose 9.55 points to 4,435.93.
Sectorwise, the Financial Services Index gained 89.09 points to 16,585.81, the Plantation Index was higher by 31.21 points at 6,903.87 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.21 of-a-point lower at 163.86. — Bernama
