KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session on a firm note, lifted by bargain hunting in index-linked counters and small capitalisation stocks amid improved global market sentiment.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.88 points to 1,648.97, from 1,644.09 at 5pm on Tuesday.
The index moved between 1,647.25 and 1,650.93 in the session.
A dealer said the positive overnight performance of Wall Street coupled with easing tensions in the US-China trade war has helped spark fresh risk appetite globally.
The Dow Jones rebounded close to 1,000 points for the last three trading sessions after US Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome H. Powell said the central bank was prepared to act, to sustain economic expansion if President Donald Trump’s trade war weakened the economy.
“The comments were interpreted such that interest rate cuts could be on the cards,” the dealer said.
Locally, foreign net buying has turned positive for the fourth straight trading day, which is a good sign.
Overall market breadth was positive as gainers beat losers 380 to 262, with 326 counters unchanged, 922 untraded and 27 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 920.4 million units worth RM712.59 million.
Among other heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.98, Public Bank perked four sen to RM23.46 and Petronas Chemicals bagged five sen to RM8.33.
Tenaga was flat at RM12.82, but CIMB shed four sen to RM5.28.
Of the actively-traded stocks, Ekovest gained two sen to 79.5 sen, both Bumi Armada and Tiger Synergy added one sen each to 21 sen and six sen respectively, but Pegasus Heights eased half-a-sen to one sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 39.03 points higher at 11,577.62, the FBMT 100 Index increased 36.1 points to 11,438.81, the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 54.12 points to 11,779.42, the FBM 70 perked 54.23 points to 14,229.02 and the FBM Ace improved 32.07 points to 4,264.06.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 14.35 points to 16,830.92 and the Plantation Index improved 17.81 points to 6,872.96, while the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.64 of-a-point better at 159.57. ― Bernama
