KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session on a positive note, supported by expectations of a bullish earnings season as well as the positive sentiment from the Malaysian political development.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.86 points or 0.25 per cent to 1,521.89 from Friday’s close of 1,518.03.
The market bellwether opened 1.96 points higher at 1,519.99 and moved between 1,519.53 and 1,524.86 throughout the session.
Market breadth was also positive with gainers outpacing losers 494 to 379, while 415 counters were unchanged, 920 untraded and seven others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.5 billion shares worth RM1.1 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd noted that so far, earnings by listed companies are looking solid for the second quarter of 2021.
“As the new administration goes to work with Covid-19 (curbing measures) as the main focus, we are hopeful that the daily cases would be more under control, with an eye on further easing of the economic lockdown,” it said in a note today.
For today, Rakuten Trade expects the index to strengthen further and oscillate within the 1,515-1,525 range.
Additionally, investors are also keeping their eyes on Malaysia’s inflation rate report for July, to be announced on Wednesday.
They are also looking ahead to the Jackson Hole symposium on Thursday, which may offer clues on the United States Federal Reserve’s policy outlook.
Back home, heavyweights Press Metal rose eight sen to RM4.96, while both CIMB and Petronas Chemicals were three sen higher at RM4.67 and RM7.97, respectively.
Petronas Dagangan gained 22 sen to RM18.94, Maybank added two sen to RM8.14 and Genting Malaysia was five sen better at RM2.83.
Meanwhile, Hartalega lost 10 sen to RM6.96 and Top Glove dropped two sen to RM3.78.
Among the actives, Advance Synergy decreased 3.5 sen to 15.5 sen, MMAG was half-a-sen lower at 12.5 sen, Advance Information erased 16 sen to 34.5 sen and Fintech Global was flat at 2.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 38.22 points to 11,146.18, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 35.74 points to 10,856.38, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 36.89 points to 12,254.40, the FBM 70 went up 80.21 points to 14,679.06, while the FBM ACE improved 3.63 points to 7,149.99.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index reduced 6.19 points to 6,410.19, the Financial Services Index rose 44.38 points to 14,887.25, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.39 points to 189.65. — Bernama
