KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session on a firm note with the benchmark index tried to retest the 1,600 points level, spurred by continuous buying support in index linked-counters led by Axiata.
At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,593.71, higher by 5.83 points compared with 1,587.88 recorded on yesterday’s close.
The index moved between 1,586.76 and 1,595.26 throughout the morning session.
Axiata lifted the composite index by 4.209 points after rising 26 sen to RM4.62 with 15.42 million shares changing hands.
On the broader market, gainers and decliner were equal at 343, while 416 counters remained unchanged, 1,967 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.58 billion shares worth RM966.19 million.
A dealer said Asian stocks turned mixed as sentiment was weighed by the upbeat overnight closing of Wall Street as well as China’s 2019 gross domestic product results, which grew 6.1 per cent amid trade war with the US and domestic pressures.
Of heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.62, Public Bank bagged two sen to RM19.58 while Tenaga was flat at RM12.90.
Petronas Chemicals shed five sen to RM7.01 and CIMB eased two sen to RM5.15.
Among the actives, Vortex slipped one sen to 11 sen, Alam Maritim gained one sen to 16.5 sen, while both Sapura Energy and DGB were flat at 27 sen and 14.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 39.8 points higher at 11,355.5 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 68.73 points to 12,016.23.
The FBMT 100 Index increased 41.21 points to 11,146.2, the FBM 70 advanced 54.26 points to 14,234.96 but the FBM Ace decreased 11.0 points to 5,574.03.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.41 of-a-point to 153.6, the Financial Services Index improved 2.46 points to 15,403.11 and the Plantation Index perked 7.7 points to 7,527.12. — Bernama
