By Karina Imran
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia extended its gains at midday on sustained buying interest in selected heavyweight stocks, led by financial counters, amid a mixed regional market performance, said an analyst.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 20.41 points to 1,740.40 from last Friday’s close of 1,719.99.
The barometer index opened 1.64 points firmer at 1,721.63, its lowest level during the morning session, before moving to the intraday high of 1,741.12 at mid-morning.
However, market breadth was negative, with decliners outpacing gainers 592 to 463. A total of 485 counters were unchanged, while 1,188 were untraded and 39 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.95 billion units worth RM1.93 billion.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said a Goldman Sachs statement signals that Malaysia is now being read by global houses as a relative outperformer within Asia, not just a cyclical rebound story.
“When growth, policy and currency dynamics move in tandem, foreign investors are more comfortable shifting from passive observation to a more structured process of position building,” he told Bernama.
According to him, the Goldman Sachs statement recommends buying the ringgit while selling the Singapore dollar, as it expects Malaysia’s currency to outperform in Asia.
He said the ringgit narrative has shifted from being US Federal Reserve-dependent to domestic fundamentals-driven.
Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank surged 14 sen to RM11.50, Public Bank gained seven sen to RM4.85, CIMB advanced 27 sen to RM8.57, Tenaga Nasional increased 18 sen to RM13.98, and IHH Healthcare added six sen to RM8.66.
On the most active list, Capital A rose 5.5 sen to 60 sen, AirAsia X climbed 25 sen to RM2.09, and Press Metal advanced 14 sen to RM7.55, while VS Industry shaved off half a sen to 45.5 sen.
Top gainers included Dutch Lady Milk Industries, which jumped 74 sen to RM33.08, while Hong Leong Bank improved 50 sen to RM24.50, Hong Leong Financial Group strengthened 48 sen to RM21.52, and Nestle racked up 40 sen to RM115.60.
As for the top decliners, Malaysian Pacific Industries dropped 52 sen to RM32.60, while Malayan Cement and Vitrox lost 17 sen each to RM7.66 and RM4.38, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index added 126.71 points to 12,582.51, the FBM Emas Index rose 119.64 points to 12,780.18, the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 84.01 points to 17,646.23, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 74.73 points to 12,384.38, but the FBM ACE Index reduced 59.67 points to 4,845.38.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 347.04 points to 21,150.21, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.67 of a point to 177.16, and the Plantation Index added 60.19 points to 8,429.96.
However, the Energy Index trimmed 2.90 points to 766.48.
-- BERNAMA
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