KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session firmer, supported by buying interest in heavyweight stocks, led by Top Glove and telecommunication counters.
The local stock remained upbeat despite the mixed performance of its regional peers, which took their cue from the overnight mixed performance on Wall Street, dealers said.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 9.79 points to 1,621.60 from yesterday’s close of 1,611.81.
The market had opened 4.18 points higher at 1615.99, and moved between 1,612.29 and 1,624.85 throughout the morning trading session.
Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 606 to 486, while 454 counters were unchanged, 632 untraded and eight others suspended.
Total volume stood at 4.82 billion units worth RM2.99 billion.
Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.35 per cent to 28,924.92, Japan’s Nikkei was 0.61 per cent higher at 28,918.03, Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 1.28 per cent to 3,110.33, but South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.97 per cent to 2,967.05.
A dealer said Asian shares were mixed today as the United States US$1.9 trillion (RM7.8 trillion) stimulus package was seen to be imminent, but the positive sentiment was tempered by concerns about inflation and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Back home, Bursa Malaysia stayed in the positive territory throughout the morning session, as recovery play strengthened.
“Bargain hunting has continued although the market undertone remains cautious with signs of positive foreign fund flows due to the attractive valuations.
“Some profit-takings in heavyweight stocks had also emerged, particularly in the financial counters after the strong performance yesterday,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.41 and Tenaga gained 16 sen to RM10.56, while Petronas Chemicals shed seven sen to RM8.28, IHH Healthcare slid six sen to RM5.23 and Maybank was flat at RM8.50.
Of the actives, Sealink reduced 4.5 sen to 24 sen, Jadi Imaging added two sen to 14.5 sen, AirAsia Group gained eight sen to RM1.04, Dagang Nexchange improved one sen to 73 sen, while AirAsia X was flat at 9.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 86.77 points to 11,810.54, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 84.30 points to 11,514.85, the FBM Emas Shariah Index surged 124.49 points to 13,005.91, the FBM ACE bagged 15.79 points to 10,241.82 and the FBM 70 soared 170.08 points to 15,362.57.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.18 of-a-point to 187.58, the Plantation Index rose 46.70 points to 7,162.49 and the Financial Services Index improved 25.28 points to 15,715.28. ― Bernama
