KUALA LUMPUR: While sentiment was improved by cooler US inflation data, Bursa Malaysia remained capped on the upside by the anticipated release of the first-quarter economic report tomorrow and a slew of corporate earnings results in the coming weeks.
-Advertisement-
The FBM KLCI was up 2.01 points to 1,427.69 at midday although the broader marker remained negative with 386 decliners compared with 289 gainers.
Trading volume was 1.58 billion shares valued at RM743.18mil.
Bank stocks, which showed a promising start to the day, turned mixed over morning trade amid the uncertain economic outlook and health of the global banking sector.
Maybank rose three sen to RM8.73 and Public Bank rose one sen to RM4 while CIMB dropped three sen to RM4.99 and Hong Leong Bank dropped four sen to RM20.
Tenaga Nasional rallied 13 sen to RM9.16 and Sime Darby Plantation gained five sen to RM4.42.
-Advertisement-
Meanwhile PETRONAS Chemicals slid 10 sen to RM7.21.
Most actively traded counters included Vinvest down 0.5 sen to 19.5 sen, Bahvest up 1.5 sen to 13 sen and Fitters unchanged at five sen.
Meanwhile, Seal was also actively traded, rising five sen to 46 sen, two days after it was revealed a new major shareholder, Aaron Chen Khai Voon, had emerged in the company.
In key Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei was little changed at 29,123 and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.3% to 2,503.
China’s composite index was down 0.1% to 3,315 following a report that showed slower consumer inflation and deepening factory gate deflation.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.2% to 19,721 while Australia’s ASX200 slipped 0.1% to 7,246. – The Star