KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher in line with most regional peers.
Renewed buying momentum in heavyweights led by Public Bank, Axiata and Sime Darby Plantation, also helped the key index to stay firmly above the 1,600-level.
At lunch-break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.96 points to 1,613.66, after fluctuating between 1,605.84 and 1,614.41 throughout the morning session.
The FBM KLCI opened 2.48 points higher at 1,607.18.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 405 to 277, while 321 counters were unchanged, 901 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.24 billion shares worth RM605.32 million.
Of the heavyweights, Public Bank jumped 20 sen to RM21.48, Axiata went up seven sen to RM4.96, Sime Darby Plantation advanced nine sen to RM4.58, RHB Bank improved 14 sen to RM5.60 and AMMB Holdings was 16 sen higher at RM4.20.
Maybank gained one sen to RM8.61, Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.29 and IHH Healthcare fell one sen to RM5.74.
Of the active stocks, KNM and Iris Corp inched up half-a-sen each to 40 sen and 16.5 sen, respectively, while Genting Malaysia increased six sen to RM3.24 and Eduspec eased one sen to 5.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index went up 60.83 points to 11,420.23, the FBMT 100 Index improved 61.62 points to 11,257.23 and the FBM Ace bagged 31.9 points to 4,610.04.
The FBM 70 improved by 74.18 points to 14,260.03 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded 54.66 points to 11,890.82.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 92.72 points to 15,873.83, the Plantation Index accelerated by 51.21 points to 6,680.53 and the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 0.47 of-a-point to 151.37. ― Bernama
