KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session on a positive note, buoyed by continuous buying in selected heavyweights led by Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Sime Darby Plantation and Press Metal Aluminium, a dealer said.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.39 points to 1,495.59 from yesterday’s close of 1,491.20.

Tenaga Nasional rose 21 sen to RM8.27, Sime Darby Plantation bagged 10 sen to RM4.33 and Press Metal improved seven sen to RM4.90. These counters contributed a combined 4.23 points to the gains in the composite index.

The benchmark index opened 0.03 points easier at 1,491.17.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 493 to 324, while 373 counters were unchanged, 1,097 untraded, and 54 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.72 billion units worth RM886.65 million.

ActivTrades Global Macro analyst Anderson Alves said Asian equities were in risk-on mode once again today following a rally in US stocks after a dovish pivot from the Federal Reserve.

“Broad 'buy the dips' demand from investors could keep supporting risk assets in Asia after months of portfolio outflows from the region.

“Traders are now watching cross-asset correlations closely, with price action likely to be driven by the soft dollar and lower global yields,” he said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell one sen to RM8.84, CIMB Group was two sen lower at RM5.26, both Public Bank and IHH Healthcare increased one sen to RM4.65 and RM6.40, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.91.

Of the actives, CSH Alliance lost 1.5 sen to 7.5 sen, Sapura Energy eased half-a-sen to four sen, while LGMS surged 13.5 sen to 93.5 sen, Dagang NeXchange gained three sen to 81 sen, and MyEG Services perked up one sen to 77.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index bagged 46.99 points to 10,625.64, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 79.07 points to 10,760.10, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 43.13 points to 10,376.53, the FBM ACE put on 29.62 points to 4,862.11, and the FBM 70 jumped 104.21 points to 12,788.90.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index increased 47.94 points to 6,988.20, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.22 points to 184.88, the Energy Index expanded 6.73 points to 673.34, but the Financial Services Index shed 0.02 of-a-point to 16,663.38. ― Bernama