KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 ― The trading of KL shares stayed in positive territory at mid-morning, boosted by the outcome of the United States (US) Federal Reserve’s (Fed) meeting yesterday where the Fed had kept its key rates unchanged.

At 11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) earned 6.49 points to 1,454.53 from 1,448.04 at yesterday’s close.

The FBM KLCI opened 0.84 points better at 1,448.88.

Public Investment Bank Bhd said the local bourse traded higher after US stocks surged to a sharply higher close on Wednesday and its benchmark Treasury yields slipped to their lowest level since August after the Fed flagged the end of its tightening cycle and struck a dovish tone for the year ahead.

All three major US stock indices jumped to fresh closing highs for the year after the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) left its fed funds target rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50 per cent.

Back home, gainers led losers 449 to 304, while 383 counters were unchanged, 1,208 untraded and 37 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.87 billion units valued at RM881.55 million.

Banking counters topped the list of heavyweight gainers, with Maybank adding one sen to RM9.08, Public Bank accumulating three sen to RM4.29, CIMB gaining four sen to RM5.83 and Hong Leong Bank up 14 sen to RM19.36.

Of the actives, Sapura Energy and SMTrack improved half-a-sen to 5.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively, while Minetech, Top Glove and Velesto each added 1.5 sen to 8.5 sen, 89 sen and 23 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased by 49.67 points to 10,763.45, the FBMT 100 Index added 49.08 points to 10,430.10, the FBM 70 Index jumped 78.34 points to 14,308.08 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 45.25 points to 10,861.07, while the FBM ACE Index dropped 20.65 points to 5,130.16.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index put on 63.72 points to 16,437.97, the Plantation Index was 7.64 points better at 7,001.21, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.61 of-a-point to 171.35, and the Energy Index accumulated 14.98 points to 804.31. ― Bernama