KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher, in tandem with most of the regional market, as renewed hope on global economic outlook encouraged buying activities among investors, dealers said.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 2.87 points at 1,602.62 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,599.75.
It opened 1.91 points higher at 1,601.66.
A dealer said that most of the Asian markets rallied in the early session today after the United States and China agreed to meet early October on their worsening trade disputes.
Investors according to him were optimistic that the world’s top two biggest economies could work towards finding a solution to break the impasse in the trade negotiation.
He added that investors would also be watching over the US jobs report to be announced later today and the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who is expected to speak in Switzerland about the economy and monetary policy.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM8.75, TNB advanced two sen to RM13.82, Petronas Chemicals jumped nine sen to RM6.97, IHH Healthcare went up four sen to RM5.80 but Public Bank slipped six sen to RM20.18.
Of the actives, GD Express perked two sen to 30.5 sen, Uzma added 2.5 sen to 79 sen, while Priceworth International was flat at 4.5 sen and Vsolar eased half-a-sen to 12 sen.
The FBM Emas Index gained 22.54 points to 11,272.81, the FBMT100 Index increased 26.38 points to 11,113.02 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 41.86 points to 11,809.71.
The FBM Ace fell 7.46 points to 4,441.25 and the FBM 70 was 59.56 points higher at 13,800.40.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 13.44 points to 15,497.40, the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 1.06 points to 148.88, while the Plantation Index shed 36.34 points to 6,760.17.
On the broader market, gainers thumped losers 321 to 277, while 371 counters remained unchanged, 979 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 887.64 million units worth RM663.51 million. — Bernama
