KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 — Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-afternoon in line with most regional markets amid the announcement of better-than-expected Chinese trade data in July.
At 3.05pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 9.79 points to 1,614.49 from yesterday’s close of 1,604.70.
The benchmark index opened 2.48 points higher at 1,607.18.
China’s exports increased by 3.3 per cent year-on-year, the fastest since March, but imports fell 5.6 per cent.
Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index went up 0.75 per cent to 26,192.79, Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.37 per cent to 20,593.35 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.44 per cent to 3,170.82.
On Bursa Malaysia, gainers outstripped losers 444 to 289, while 346 counters remained unchanged, 825 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.39 billion units worth RM750.08 million.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank jumped 14 sen to RM21.42, TNB rose six sen to RM13.90, Petronas Chemicals gained one sen to RM7.30, Axiata perked up nine sen to RM4.98, Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM8.60 and RM5.06, respectively, while IHH Healthcare fell one sen to RM5.74.
Of the active stocks, KNM and Iris Corp inched up half-a-sen to 40 sen and 16.5 sen, respectively, Genting Malaysia went up five sen to RM3.23, SMTrack gained 1.5 sen to 20.5 sen, Eduspec and Netx edged down half-a-sen to six sen and 1.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 72.56 points to 11,908.72, the FBM 70 expanded 71.54 points to 14,257.39, the FBM Emas Index went up 67.31 points to 11,426.71, the FBMT 100 Index was 66.30 points higher at 11,261.91, and the FBM Ace put on 50.71 points to 4,628.85.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 80.06 points to 15,861.17, the Plantation Index added 50.06 points to 6,679.38 and the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 0.67 of-a-point to 151.57. — Bernama
