Bursa Malaysia Ends Morning Session Mixed

KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session mixed as mild profit-taking in selected consumer products and services counters reversed some of the earlier gains, an analyst said.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 2.0 points to 1,550.99 from Thursday’s close of 1,548.99.

The benchmark index had earlier opened 1.75 points higher at 1,550.74.

The broader market was slightly negative with 414 decliners leading 410 gainers, while 441 counters were unchanged, 1,122 untraded and 21 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.97 billion units worth RM1.11 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the local benchmark index is expected to hover within the 1,545-1,555 range today, amid Wall Street closing overnight broadly higher following a stronger-than-expected job report.

“Nonfarm payroll rose by 147,000 against the forecast of 110,000. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1 per cent versus the forecast of 4.3 per cent.

“On the flipside, the stronger job market may see a delay for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, hence the United States (US) 10-year yield jumped to 4.35 per cent,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and IHH Healthcare were 5.0 sen lower each at RM9.75 and RM6.80, Public Bank gained 5.0 sen to RM4.35, Tenaga Nasional rose 8.0 sen to RM14.10, while CIMB remained unchanged at RM6.79.

As for the most active stocks, Borneo Oil was flat at half-a-sen, Zetrix AI added 2.0 sen to 99.5 sen, NexG went up half-a-sen to 39.5 sen, Nationgate edged up 7.0 sen to RM1.74, and UCrest slipped 1.0 sen to 8.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 6.93 points to 11,624.63, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 5.17 points to 11,397.09, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 4.41 points to 11,633.61.

The FBM 70 Index declined 33.88 points to 16,798.65, while the FBM ACE Index went down 22.07 points to 4,505.95.

By sector, the Financial Services Index advanced 43.88 points to 17,778.47, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.58 of a point to 156.59, and the Energy Index fell 0.45 of a point to 743.06, while the Plantation Index trimmed 5.95 points to 7,429.88.

-- BERNAMA