.JPG "An investor monitors the stock prices in the gallery of the RHB Investment Bank Bhd headquarters in Kuala Lumpur March 17, 2020. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Hari Anggara")
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-morning, tracking the positive sentiment in the regional markets, with gains were seen in selected financial services as well as telecommunications and media counters, dealers said.
At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.54 points to 1,583.73 from yesterday’s close of 1,582.19.
The market bellwether opened 2.98 points better at 1,585.17.
Market breadth stayed positive with gainers leading decliners 435 to 361, while 431 counters were unchanged, 1,001 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.60 billion shares worth RM830.45 million.
ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities were in positive territory on Friday, following gains on Wall Street overnight where the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted fresh record highs.
“However, caution remains ahead of the US nonfarm payrolls data (for August), due later in the session.
“Macro data continues to show that China’s economy is slowing down, with the latest Chinese Caixin services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) recording its first headline contraction for the survey since April 20, at 46.7 versus expectations of 52.6,” he said in a research note today.
Back home among the heavyweights, Maybank gained five sen to RM8.32, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals added one sen each to RM4.08 and RM8.30, respectively, Tenaga Nasional slipped two sen to RM10.36, and IHH Healthcare went down one sen to RM6.35.
Of the actives, KNM Group improved one sen to 28.5 sen, Sapura Energy and Avillion earned half-a-sen each to 12.5 sen and 13 sen, respectively, and Serba Dinamik shed one sen to 40 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 21.26 points to 11,554.68, the FBMT 100 Index was 16.72 points higher at 11,254.70, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 17.93 points to 12,675.29.
The FBM 70 increased 45 points to 15,051.08 while the FBM ACE shed 29.90 points to 7,187.69.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index gained 9.22 points to 6,697.77, the Financial Services Index bagged 36.04 points to 15,435.91 and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.18 points to 199.71. — Bernama
