KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 ― Bursa Malaysia remained on a high note at mid-morning, driven by continued buying in selected heavyweights, in line with the recovery in the regional market, dealers said.
At 11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.29 points to 1,538.85 from Wednesday’s close of 1,535.36.
The benchmark index opened 4.16 points higher at 1,539.72.
On the broader market, however, losers outpaced gainers 383 to 328, while 341 counters were unchanged, 1,261 untraded, and 31 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.17 billion units worth RM545.12 million.
ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities recovered on Thursday, with the risk demand improving in the absence of hawkish or dovish surprises in the United States (US) Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes.
“The US short-term interest rates futures implied that hikes have fluctuated negligibly after the FOMC minutes.
“Now, the focus will be on the US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) figures to be released on Friday, which will be key to gauge US Federal Reserve’s expectations,” he said in a note today.
On the macro front, he said traders are keeping an eye on China as the yuan was the weakest performer in the currency market amid comments from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
“He warned that the world's second-largest economy is doing worse in some ways than when the pandemic had first hit in 2020.
“Beijing had registered more Covid-19 cases, and the nearby port city of Tianjin locked down a city-centre district, driving the offshore yuan to break a four-session advance,” he added.
Back home, heavyweights Maybank and TNB rose 2.0 sen each to RM8.98 and RM9.21, respectively, Public Bank gained 3.0 sen to RM4.58 and IHH Healthcare went up 6.0 sen to RM6.40, while Petronas Chemicals slipped 6.0 sen to RM9.87.
Of the actives, Serba Dinamik added 1.0 sen to 11 sen and Cypark Resources improved 2.5 sen to 40.5 sen, while Focus Dynamics and MNC Wireless earned half-a-sen each to 3.5 sen and 2.0 sen, respectively.
On the index board, FBM ACE gained 38.66 points to 5,229.58, FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 17.54 points to 11,350.46, FBM Emas Index was up 21.38 points to 10,970.82, FBMT 100 Index advanced 26.34 points to 10,659.49, and FBM 70 added 46.76 points to 13,066.24.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.23 of-a-point lower at 197.23, while the Financial Services Index added 47.11 points to 16,542.84 and the Plantation Index rose 32.61 points to 8,035.63. ― Bernama
