Bursa Malaysia Higher At Midday Lifted By Buying In Selected Heavyweights
KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia stayed in positive territory at midday supported by persistent buying in selected heavyweights, led by industrial products and services as well as consumer products and services sectors.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.36 points or 0.26 per cent to 1,712.72, from yesterday's close of 1,708.36.
The benchmark index, which opened 3.35 points higher at 1,711.71, moved between 1,710.30 and 1,715.71 during the morning trading session.
Market breadth was positive with gainers surpassing losers 538 to 456, while 512 counters were unchanged, 1,212 untraded and 63 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.81 billion units valued at RM1.53 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said in a research note today that although the local bourse tracked the positive performance on Wall Street overnight, it anticipates the FBM KLCI will rebound today after a losing streak of more than a week.
“We remain bullish on the technology sector, favouring MI Technovation Bhd, UWC Bhd, Frontken Corporation Bhd, and THMY Holdings Bhd, as sentiment should continue to bode well for the sector following Nvidia’s stellar earnings and the ARM partnership announcement,” it said.
It noted that the FBM KLCI continued to retrace further, with technical indicators showing weakening signals, as the moving average convergence divergence histogram expanded toward the negative territory, while the relative strength index traded below 50.
“Resistance is seen around 1,723-1,728, with support at 1,688-1,693,” it added.
Among heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals rose 24 sen to RM5.69, Press Metal Aluminium put on 11 sen to RM8.99, 99 Speed Mart Retail advanced nine sen to RM3.45, while Petronas Dagangan dipped 62 sen to RM18.18, and Hong Leong Bank shed 20 sen to RM22.00.
As for the most active counters, SkyeChip garnered 37 sen to RM2.70, Zetrix AI inched up half a sen to 82.5 sen, Tanco added two sen to RM1.72, Gold Li eased half a sen to 11.5 sen, while GIIB was flat at 39.5 sen.
Of the top gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries climbed RM2.40 to RM48.60, Hong Leong Industries expanded 62 sen to RM18.52, Vitrox Corporation jumped 44 sen to RM6.92, LPI Capital went up 34 sen to RM15.34, and BM Greentech soared 33 sen to RM1.44.
Among the top losers, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing lost 26 sen to RM4.10, TA Ann slipped 25 sen to RM5.36, Sunway Construction slid 18 sen to RM7.46, Arka fell 11 sen to 44 sen, and KPJ Healthcare was 10 sen easier at RM3.21.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 45.69 points to 12,715.57, the FBM Top 100 Index gained 45.89 points to 12,557.37, the FBM ACE Index rose 19.84 points to 4,698.08, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 76.84 points to 12,645.42, and the FBM Mid 70 Index surged 126.55 points to 18,357.37.
By sector, the Energy Index added 14.38 points to 791.29, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 2.14 points to 199.83, the Financial Services Index eased 5.28 points to 20,017.69, and the Plantation Index fell 4.53 points to 8,552.87.
-- BERNAMA