KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — Bursa Malaysia continued its upbeat momentum to stay higher at mid-afternoon, reaching almost a one-year high and breaching the 1,500 level in the process, lifted by persistent buying in selected heavyweights led by the financial services sector.
The last time the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was above the 1,500 level was on January 20, 2023 at 1,500.33.
Maybank added five sen to RM9.11 and Public Bank increased three sen to RM4.39. Both counters lifted the composite index by a combined 1.95 points.
At 3.01pm, the market bellwether gained 4.57 points to 1,500.27 from yesterday’s close of 1,495.70.
The benchmark index opened 1.47 points firmer at 1,497.17.
In the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 549 to 411, while 454 counters were unchanged, 805 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 4.73 billion units worth RM2.40 billion.
Among other heavyweights, IHH Healthcare gained five sen to RM6.10, CelcomDigi climbed three sen to RM4.22, YTL Power International lost four sen to RM3.40 and Petronas Chemicals slid three sen to RM7.19.
Of the actives, TWL Holdings and Asdion inched up half-a-sen each to 4.5 sen and 13.5 sen, respectively, Minetech Resources perked up by one sen to 23 sen, while Hong Seng Consolidated and Saudee Group were flat at three sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved by 25.06 points to 11,184.44, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 29.05 points to 10,830.41, the FBM 70 Index climbed 24.61 points to 15,158.45, the FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded 12.24 points to 11,290.01, while the FBM ACE Index tumbled 45.45 points to 5,403.25.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.26 of-a-point to 178.45, the Financial Services Index jumped 81.20 points to 16,750.25, the Plantation Index put on 14.83 points to 7,080.56, while the Property Index shed 12.60 points to 910.0, and the Energy Index slid 4.56 points to 844.44. — Bernama
