KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 12): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session higher on continued buying demand for selected heavyweights, in line with positive sentiments on regional bourses, dealers said.
-Advertisement-
At 12.30pm on Friday (Nov 12), the benchmark FBM KLCI had risen 8.17 points to 1,527.02 from Thursday’s close at 1,518.85.
The index opened 3.84 points higher at 1,522.69 and fluctuated between 1,520.67 and 1,529.85 throughout the morning session.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 453 to 365, while 441 counters were unchanged, 1,056 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.78 billion units worth RM1.33 billion.
In a research note on Friday, Rakuten Trade said the local benchmark index is expected to see some downside, though bargain-hunting activities may emerge as well.
“As such, we expect the benchmark index to trade within a tight consolidation range of 1,515-1,525 today (Friday),” it said.
-Advertisement-
On the macro developments, it said Wall Street ended mixed overnight but recovered some losses suffered in the previous session following a surge in consumer price inflation, with prices of food and gasoline running hot and stoking concerns about growth prospects for the US economy.
“The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 159 points to end just below the 35,000 level, while the Nasdaq added 264 points. The S&P 500 closed flat.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) rose by 10 sen to RM8.10, Public Bank Bhd and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) were flat at RM4.02 and RM8.30 respectively, while IHH Healthcare Bhd slipped six sen to RM6.40 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) declined 1.0 sen to RM9.62.
Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) added two sen to 85 sen, AirAsia X Bhd and JAG Bhd went up 1.5 sen each to 7.5 sen and 39 sen respectively, while NWP Holdings Bhd improved one sen to 34.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 66.34 points to 11,307.53, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 66.14 points to 10,943.38, the FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 75.49 points to 12,309.03 and the FBM 70 jumped 120.03 points to 14,993.80, while the FBM ACE added 33.79 points to 6,992.07.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.56 of a point to 201.45, the Plantation Index bagged 18.04 points to 6,634.13 and the Financial Services Index gained 74.87 points to 15,193.12.-BERNAMA