KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher in line with most Asian stock markets, supported by continued buying activities in the financial services counters amid the bullish economic outlook, dealers said.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.47 points to 1,604.13 after fluctuating between 1,593.02 and 1,607.16 throughout the morning session.
Market breadth, however, remained negative with losers thumping gainers 757 to 489, while 377 counters were unchanged, 541 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 11.09 billion shares worth RM4.51 billion.
CGS-CIMB said the sharp improvement in Malaysia’s third-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had led to optimism over the growth in the fourth quarter, although this could now be slower than initially expected with the resurgence of Covid-19 cases.
“Local research said Bank Negara Malaysia still has room to lean towards further monetary easing in January to further support the economy if the Covid-19 containment measures were further tightened for a prolonged period.
“Despite the central bank’s optimism, it remained cautious as the economy began to suffer from the third wave of the pandemic and the containment measures implemented in the fourth quarter of 2020,” it said in a research note today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose 13 sen to RM8.27, Public Bank jumped 40 sen to RM18.88, TNB gained 20 sen to RM11.40 and Petronas Chemicals improved one sen to RM6.71, but Top Glove declined 55 sen to RM6.65.
Of the actives, MTouche added 1.5 sen to 12 sen, AT Systematization slipped 2.5 sen to 23.5 sen, and both Lambo and Pegasus were flat at 4.5 sen and three sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 26.50 points higher at 11,501.11, the FBMT 100 Index increased 30.97 points to 11,294.31 and the FBM 70 climbed 38.40 points to 14,695.89.
Meanwhile, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 93.18 points to 13,092.47 and the FBM ACE dipped 331.78 points to 11,238.61.
The Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.42 of-a-point to 157.62, the Plantation Index advanced 16.42 points to 7,293.82, while the Financial Services Index rose 332.35 points to 14,476.23. — Bernama
