BURSA MALAYSIA ENDS MORNING SESSION HIGHER

By Anas Abu Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia maintained its uptrend to end the morning session higher fuelled by Wall Street's optimism on expectations of Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cuts, an analyst said.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 11.97 points to 1,609.36 from Monday’s close of 1,597.39.

The barometer index which opened 3.46 points higher at 1,600.85, moved between 1,600.66 and 1,609.99 during the session.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners 566 to 426, while 473 counters were unchanged, 848 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.78 billion units worth RM1.73 billion.

SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the stock markets began to appear more attractively priced as market participants digested the news that rate hikes were off the table for now. 

"The response of global markets to signs of a weakening United States job market also bolstered expectations of Fed rate cuts in the coming months, which has been a significant driver for stock market sentiment," he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank and Public Bank each rose two sen to RM9.85 and RM4.22, CIMB appreciated 12 sen to RM6.87, Tenaga Nasional also gained two sen to RM12.40 and IHH Healthcare rose one sen to RM6.31.

As for the actives, Ingenieur lost half-a-sen to 10.5 sen, Iconic rose one sen to 12.5 sen, Capital A was seven sen up to 91 sen, while both MYEG and SNS gained 1.5 sen to 93 sen and 48.5 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 82.88 points higher to 12,117.15, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 80.65 points to 11,737.63 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index appreciated 81.00 points to 12,310.92.

The FBM 70 Index climbed 89 points to 16,924.65 but the FBM ACE Index declined 25.16 points to 5,115.75.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index jumped 132.56 points to 17,556.17, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.47 points to 193.41, the Plantation Index rose 54.03 points to 7,447.17 and the Energy Index picked up 15.47 points to 978.18.

-- BERNAMA