KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher on buying interest in selected heavyweights, but the broader shares were lower on weaker global sentiment, dealers said.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 3.67 points to 1,605.54 after opening 7.71 points lower at 1,594.16.
Losers led gainers 398 to 261, with 344 counters unchanged, 894 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.1 billion units worth RM705.65 million.
A dealer said support continued to be seen on index linked stocks amid a still largely weak market environment rocked by the escalating trade dispute between the United States and China.
“The support has helped sustain the key index above the 1,600 support, but with sentiment turning increasingly frail, we think that the level may not hold for long,” he added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank lost one sen to RM9.01.
Public Bank and TNB bagged two sen each to RM22.52 and RM11.68 respectively, Petronas Chemicals perked 19 sen to RM8.82 and CIMB gained three sen to RM5.18.
Of the actively-traded stocks, Lambo, Bumi Armada and Vortex added half-a-sen each to six sen, 18.5 sen and 27.5 sen respectively.
Impiana and Sapura Energy slipped half-a-sen each to 3.5 sen and 29.5 sen respectively.
The FBM Emas Index was up 24.699 points to 11,234.43, the FBMT 100 Index increased 26.439 points to 11,090.84 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up 39.63 points to 11,371.91.
The FBM 70 rose 36.68 points to 13,606.25 and the FBM Ace went up 4.87 points to 4,293.77.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 14.129 points to 16,567.45 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.74 of-a-point higher at 162.16, while the Plantation Index was lower by 31.03 points at 6,806.39. ― Bernama
