.JPG "An investor monitors the stock prices in the gallery of the RHB Investment Bank Bhd headquarters in Kuala Lumpur March 17, 2020. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Hari Anggara")
KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 ― Consistent buying in heavyweight counters kept the FBM KLCI index firmer at lunch break, in sync with positive sentiment in regional stock markets.
At 12.30pm, key index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.02 points, or 0.516 per cent to 1,368.41 from 1,361.39 at yesterday’s close.
The key index opened 7.5 points higher at 1,368.89 and lingered between 1,366.60 and 1,369.71 throughout the morning session.
On the scoreboard, gainers beat losers 571 to 192, while 339 counters were unchanged, 817 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.57 billion shares worth RM1.02 billion.
Rakuten Trade said Wall Street surged overnight on hopes the US is not far from the peak of the prevailing pandemic, with the DJI Average closing above the 23,000 mark, up by almost 780 points.
It reckoned that such optimism may influence small rallies in other Asian markets today, albeit a short-lived one.
Regionally, Hong Kong Hang Seng's rose 0.70 per cent to 24,137.45, Singapore Straits Times Index gained 1.54 per cent to 2,578.50 and Korea's Kospi was 0.73 per cent higher at 1,820.42.
Of the heavyweights, Hartalega jumped 23 sen to RM7.50, Axiata increased seven sen to RM3.62, Tenaga gained 10 sen to 12.04 and Maybank was three sen higher at RM7.90.
Altogether, these counters contributed 4.215 points to the gains in the composite index.
Top gainers were lead by HLFG which soared 26 sen to RM12.56, KLK increased 24 sen to RM21.00 and Bursa was 18 sen higher at RM5.15.
Meanwhile, among the actives, Avi, VC and Hibiscus Petroleum inched up two sen each to 7.5 sen, nine sen and 52.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 64.58 points to 9,475.85, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 81.47 points to 10,403.93 while the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 59.03 points to 9,365.74.
The FBM 70 advanced 115.72 points to 11,116.22, the FBM Ace improved 81.84 points to 4,167.51.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.11 points to 110.33, the Financial Services Index expanded 87.64 points to 12,486.11 and the Plantation Index gained 38.10 points to 6,213.86. ― Bernama
