KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — Bursa Malaysia was higher at midday, lifted by buying interest in some heavyweights led by financial stocks.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 2.77 points to 1,428.76 from Wednesday’s close of 1,425.99.
The benchmark index opened 2.38 points lower at 1,423.61 and moved between 1,421.78 and 1,430.05 throughout the morning session
However, market breadth remained negative with decliners outpacing gainers 477 to 250, while 361 counters were unchanged, 1,143 untraded, and 11 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.65 billion units worth RM736.53 million.
Maybank Investment Bank said in a note that buying interest is likely to be mild and selective heading into the weekend with plantation names ripe for a rebound along with bank stocks.
Technically, it expects the FBM KLCI Index to range between 1,415 and 1,445 points today, with support remaining at 1,380 and 1,350 points.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank ticked up one sen to RM8.73 while Public Bank and CIMB rose six sen each to RM3.97 and RM5.13, respectively,
Petronas Chemicals slid 14 sen to RM7.10, CelcomDigi eased five sen to RM4.39, Tenaga added one sen to RM8.99, and IHH Healthcare improved six sen to RM5.86.
Among the most actives, Jade Marvel gave up half-a-sen to 27.5 sen, Revenue Group rose half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, Vinvest and Hong Sen fell one sen each to 20 sen and 12 sen, respectively, while KNM added 1.5 sen to 6.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 0.07 of a point to 10,448.19, the FBMT 100 Index increased 2.95 points to 10,143.07 but the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 28.58 points to 10,757.90.
The FBM ACE Index was 48.60 points lower at 5,164.70 and the FBM 70 index dipped 65.44 points to 13,459.67.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.82 points to 169.63, the Energy Index eased 5.29 points to 828.19, but the Plantation Index recovered 18.12 points to 6,844.73 and the Financial Services Index improved 78.94 points to 15,667.73. — Bernama
