KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 ― Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher today in line with regional peers, lifted by buying interest mainly in financial stocks.
At noon break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 3.31 points to 1,586.81 from yesterday’s close of 1,583.50.
The index opened 0.44 of-a-point better at 1,583.94 and moved between 1,580.39 and 1,588.34 throughout the period.
Overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 539 to 399, while 410 counters were unchanged, 586 untraded and 26 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 7.07 billion shares worth RM2.41 billion.
Regionally, China's Shanghai Stock Exchange rose 1.03 per cent to 3,438.61, Japan’s Nikkei Index added 0.98 per cent to 22,658.98, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index up 0.47 per cent 26,252.36, while Singapore's Straits Times Index eased 0.32 per cent to 2,660.99.
A dealer said Asian equities were mostly traded on upside bias today, taking a cue from a strong overnight performance of US shares and the continuing bullish run on China's exchange.
Nasdaq hit a record closing high as investors focused on technology stocks that can outperform amid an acceleration of Covid-19 infections in about 30 American states.
“Locally, buying in financial stocks continues to support the uptrend of Bursa Malaysia. The FBM KLCI, have been extremely stubborn challenging the 1,600 level buoyed by high liquidity following the interest rate cut on Tuesday,” she added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added five sen to RM7.96, Public Bank rose 50 sen to RM18.50, Top Glove gained two sen to RM20.56 while Tenaga and Hartalega shed four sen each to RM11.52 and RM16.38 respectively.
Of the most active, PDZ Holdings shed 3.5 sen to 17 sen, Fintec Global added one sen to 10 sen, Vortex improved half-a-sen at 8.5 sen, MQ Technology eased half-a-sen to 8.5 sen while DGB Asia was flat at five sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas was 47.35 points better at 11,173.92, the FBMT 100 Index added 47.19 points to 11,022.64 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 5.57 points to 12,708.44.
The FBM 70 advanced 155.18 points to 13,753.37 while the FBM ACE surged 137.27 points to 7,265.91.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index soared 202.97 points to 13,657.98, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.21 of-a-point to 141.14 while the Plantation Index slipped 50.61 points to 6,836.58. ― Bernama
