KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 ― Bursa Malaysia was broadly higher at midday, with the key index rose by more than one per cent due to positive regional market sentiment following better trade data from China, dealers said.

The benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) soared 13.87 points or 1.02 per cent to end the morning session at 1,369.9 from 1,356.03 at yesterday’s close.

The key index moved between 1,361.01 and 1,370.74 throughout the morning session.

Petronas Chemicals lifted the composite index by a substantial 3.786 points after rising 26 sen to RM5.08 with 2.35 million shares changing hands.

Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times bolstered 2.46 per cent to 2,630.31, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index increased 0.65 per cent to 24,457.83 and Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 2.86 per cent to 19,587.87.

A dealer said regional investors cheered China’s better-than-expected trade data for March with imports showed growth rather than contraction while exports declined at a slower-than-expected pace.

According to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Tuesday, the offtake from China fell 6.6 per cent year-on-year while imports contracted by a marginal 0.9 per cent.

The overall market breadth on Bursa was bullish with gainers outpacing losers 571 to 170, while 285 counters were unchanged, 879 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.33 billion shares worth RM973.08 million.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB bagged six sen each to RM7.51 and RM3.56 respectively, Tenaga chalked up 14 sen to RM12.18, and Maxis gained three sen to RM5.32.

Public Bank was flat at RM15.84 but IHH Healthcare slipped two sen to RM5.09.

Among the actives, Lambo was one sen better at two sen, Vortex and Bioalpha inched up half-a-sen each to nine sen and 11 sen respectively, while Minetech bagged two sen to 25 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded 118.06 points to 9,476.1, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 139.85 points o 10,471.44, the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 113.04 points to 9,371.39, the FBM 70 jumped added 209.52 points to 11,104.15 and the FBM Ace garnered 202.16 points to 4,213.17.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 2.97 points to111.84, the Financial Services Index appreciated 92.61 points to 12,320.79 and the Plantation Index bagged 28.17 points to 6,232.97. ― Bernama