KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 ― Bursa Malaysia continued to trend higher on bargain-hunting at mid-afternoon today over expectations of monetary policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve, analysts said.
At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 8.76 points firmer at 1,517.67 from 1,508.91 at yesterday's close, after opening 0.13 of-a-point lower at 1,508.78.
Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 526 to 269, while 375 counters were unchanged, 1,110 untraded and 30 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.41 billion units worth RM947.37 million.
Maybank IB, in a research note, said technically, it expects the FBM KLCI Index to range between 1,515 and 1,545 today, with supports at 1,515 and 1,475.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose six sen to RM8.29, Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare gained three sen each to RM4.21, RM8.93 and RM6.36, respectively, and CIMB expanded two sen to RM5.27.
As for the actives, DNex expanded five sen to 91 sen, Coraza added 5.5 sen to 86.5 sen, while SMTrack eased one sen to 18 sen.
On the index board, the FBM ACE increased 85.25 points to 6,056.25, the FBM 70 inched up 72.77 points to 13,403.79, the FBM Emas Index improved 65.79 points to 10,889.12, the FBMT 100 Index added 60.39 points to 10,601.98, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 69.46 points to 11,570.25.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 95.75 points to 15,756.65, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.26 points at 199.88, while the Plantation Index weakened 4.01 points to 6,627.30. ― Bernama
