Bursa Malaysia Remains Higher At Mid-Afternoon
KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-afternoon today, supported by brisk buying momentum on the local bourse and in line with improved sentiment in the regional markets.
At 3.15 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced by 12.12 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 1,710.34, from Wednesday’s close of 1,698.22, after opening 8.03 points higher at 1,706.25.
Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 532 to 495. A total of 480 counters were unchanged, 1,155 untraded and 11 suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.01 billion units worth RM1.95 billion.
Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate at 2.75 per cent during its meeting today.
Among heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and TNB all rose six sen to RM11.72, RM4.90 and RM14.22, respectively, while RHB Bank was flat at RM8.50, and Hong Leong Bank trimmed 10 sen to RM22.96.
On the most active list, Zetrix AI perked up half-a-sen to 77.5 sen, Tanco went up two sen to RM1.55, NexG increased 2.5 sen to 29.5 sen, while Bumi Armada shed one sen to 34.5 sen.
Top gainers included Nestle which garnered RM1.50 to RM108.5, Malaysian Pacific Industries bagged 70 sen to RM31.20, Press Metal Aluminium increased 26 sen to RM7.66, and Malayan Cement climbed 25 sen to RM8.37.
As for leading decliners, Fraser & Neave slipped 82 sen to RM33.08, Hong Leong Financial Group gave up 46 sen to RM20.80, Petronas Dagangan erased 18 sen to RM22.18, and AirAsia X went down 17 sen to RM1.51.
On the broader market, the FBMT 100 Index rose 73.30 points to 12,339.96, the FBM Emas Index expanded 66.21 points to 12,500.68, the FBM 70 Index was 38.06 points higher at 17,192.32, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 61.30 points to 12,149.54, and the FBM ACE Index fell 0.76 of-a-point to 4,505.06.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index jumped 82.86 points to 20,851.64, the Plantation Index climbed 48.16 points to 8,186.82, the Energy Index slid 3.72 points to 782.89, while the Industrial Products and Services Index added 2.26 points to 173.98.
-- BERNAMA
