Bursa Malaysia maintained its upward trajectory at midday, driven by robust buying interest across mid-and small-cap stocks.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 4.86 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,594.95, compared to Friday’s close of 1,590.09. The benchmark index opened slightly firmer at 1,590.26, fluctuating between 1,587.03 and 1,596.92 during the morning session.
Market breadth favoured gainers, with 483 stocks advancing against 414 decliners. Meanwhile, 463 counters remained unchanged, with 1,014 stocks untraded and five others suspended. Total turnover stood at 1.93 billion units worth RM1.20 billion.
Thong Pak Leng, Vice President of Equity Research at Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd, noted that domestic market sentiment is poised for improvement following subdued inflation data from the United States. “We anticipate the index to range between 1,590 and 1,600 today,” he told Bernama.
He also highlighted potential portfolio realignments due to the Japanese yen’s decline to a 38-year low against the US dollar, possibly diverting investments from the Japanese stock market to other Asian markets.
Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank traded flat at RM9.96, Tenaga Nasional rose four sen to RM13.82, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.03, and CIMB increased two sen to RM6.82. Conversely, IHH Healthcare slipped one sen to RM6.29.
Active stocks included Ingenieur Gudang, up half a sen to 5.5 sen; Nova, gaining one sen to 22.5 sen; EA Technique and Hiap Teck, each climbing 1.5 sen to 35.5 sen and 44 sen, respectively. MYEG, however, dipped 2.5 sen to 99.5 sen.
On the index front, the FBM Emas Index rose 33.63 points to 12,250.03, the FBMT 100 Index gained 31.83 points to 11,829.89, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased by 31.77 points to 12,584.74, the FBM 70 Index climbed 32.62 points to 17,874.52, and the FBM ACE Index edged up 59.26 points to 5,832.54.
Sector-wise, the Energy Index added 6.67 points to 962.09, the Industrial Products and Services Index grew by 0.59 points to 196.44, the Plantation Index advanced 42.19 points to 7,024.91, and the Financial Services Index gained 17.69 points to 17,472.43.
