Bursa Malaysia Higher At Midday
KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher, tracking the strong overnight rally on Wall Street.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 11.82 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 1,703.21 from yesterday's close of 1,691.39.
The key index opened 0.07 of a point lower at 1,691.32 and moved between 1,685.57 and 1,707.07 throughout the morning trading session.
Market breadth, however, was negative with decliners outnumbering gainers 501 to 476, while 513 counters were unchanged, 1,219 untraded and 25 suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.27 billion units worth RM1.54 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the overnight Wall Street soared as the US-Iran peace deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz ignited a broad rally.
Hence, the brokerage believes that the FBM KLCI will extend its recovery today, with buying interest rotating into the technology counters.
“With the drop in oil prices, market sentiment should bode well for airline and consumer-related stocks due to an expected cost-relief windfall,” it said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank garnered 24 sen to RM11.60, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional gained four sen to RM4.96 and RM14.52, respectively. CIMB increased nine sen to RM7.78, and IHH Healthcare climbed 14 sen to RM8.83.
As for the active stocks, Tanco added two sen to 15 sen, Hong Seng Consolidated and Dagang NeXchange were flat at 1.5 sen and 40 sen, respectively. Pentech increased 4.5 sen to 30.5 sen, and Elsa was four sen firmer at 27 sen.
Of the top gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries added 88 sen to RM49.88, United Plantations perked up 54 sen to RM32.04, Hong Leong Bank rose 24 sen to RM21.90, and Sam Engineering jumped 20 sen to RM5.04.
Among top losers, Press Metal slipped 28 sen to RM8.12, Batu Kawan declined 24 sen to RM20.36, Petronas Gas fell 20 sen to RM17.26, and UMS Integration eased 18 sen to RM8.52.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 61.57 points to 12,622.50, the FBM Top 100 Index added 63.96 points to 12,458.67, the FBM ACE Index firmed 10.12 points to 4,761.99, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index put on 24.32 points to 12,446.09, while the FBM Mid 70 Index slid 3.33 points to 18,089.45.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 212.68 points to 20,204.04, and the Plantation Index soared 30.26 points to 8,759.28, the Energy Index gained 2.71 points to 763.17, while the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 1.23 points to 188.41.
-- BERNAMA