KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s benchmark FBM KLCI ended the morning session marginally higher although it stayed on track to recording another losing week by the end of day.
At 12.30pm, the key index was up 0.64 points to 1,375.28. There were 364 gainers on the broader market compared to 335 decliners.
Trading volume was 1.84 billion shares valued at RM708.79mil.
There was positive sentiment in global markets following the overnight rally on Wall Street as investors grew more optimistic the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at its policy meeting next week.
Japan’s Nikkei climbed 1.8% to 32,223 while South Korea’s Kospi rose 1% to 2,635 after higher-than-expected US jobless claims signaled that the labour market was softening.
China’s composite index was little changed at 3,214, with gains offset by factory data that indicated a weak recovery in the country’s economy. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.3% to 19,352.
While Malaysia’s stock exchange has been seen to lag behind its regional peers, there was some bargain-hunting to help lift prices following two days of losses that brought the market near an eight-month low of 1,373.
Blue chips on the rise included CIMB up six sen to RM4.96, Public Bank adding one sen to RM3.82 and Axiata rising two sen to RM2.75.
Gainers on the wider bourse included Gamuda up nine sen to RM4.21, Padini rising seven sen to RM3.73 and AirAsia X rising seven sen to RM1.85.
Top actives included XOX unchanged at 1.5 sen, Sapura Energy up 0.5 sen to four sen and Parlo adding 0.5 sen to 13 sen.
– The Star