KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Bursa Malaysia’s key index closed higher at midday, mirroring the upbeat regional performance.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 16.17 points to 1,717.19 from last Friday’s close of 1,701.02.
The benchmark index opened 2.63 points higher at 1,703.65, before fluctuating between 1,702.35 and 1,718.31 during the morning trading session.
However, the broader market was negative with losers outpacing gainers 514 to 435, while 488 counters were unchanged, 1,336 were untraded and 53 were suspended.
Turnover totalled 1.55 billion shares worth RM934.80 million.
Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index expanded 0.81 per cent to 25,166.58, Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.28 per cent to 64,793.48, Shanghai’s SSE Composite Index improved 0.40 per cent to 3,829.39 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index jumped 0.44 per cent to 5,557.08.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index tumbled 5.80 per cent to 6,685.26 and Indonesia’s IDX Composite Index was down 0.27 per cent to 6,179.72.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said US Wall Street has stabilised to end mixed following a tumultuous week.
“Heightened geopolitical tensions coupled with high crude oil prices all contributed to a highly volatile trading week in addition to the rotation out of the artificial intelligence-related segment.
“Nonetheless, the situation seems to have calmed after both China and Pakistan stepped in to broker the continuation of peace talks between the US and Iran, as indicated by the reversal in Brent crude price to below US$97 per barrel,” he told Bernama.
Hence, he expected some bargain hunting to emerge, thus envisaging the index to hover within 1,695-1,710.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank gained 11 sen to RM5.22, CIMB Group rose 12 sen to RM7.80, Maybank added 14 sen to RM10.92, Petronas Gas advanced 38 sen to RM17.78 and Maxis was higher by six sen to RM3.58.
Among active stocks, SNS Network Technology rose 4.5 sen to 56 sen, AIMAX was unchanged at one sen, while Tanco Holdings lost one sen to 25 sen, V.S Industry fell 1.5 sen to 23 sen, Zetrix slipped half-a-sen to 69.5 sen.
Among the top gainers, Nestlé advanced 96 sen to RM91.58, Malaysian Pacific Industries climbed 62 sen to RM45.70, Far East added 25 sen to RM4.10, and Hong Leong Industries increased 20 sen to RM18.02.
United Plantations led the losers shedding 44 sen to RM32.98, Fraser & Neave lost 40 sen to RM27.90, Dutch Lady Milk Industries fell 30 sen to RM31.70, Ideal Capital decreased 24 sen to RM3.75, and BLD Plantation eased 20 sen to RM14.80.
Among the broader indices, the FBM Emas Index gained 92.36 points to 12,681.90, the FBMT 100 Index rose 99.22 points to 12,511.18 and the FBM Mid 70 Index added 63.11 points to 17,953.94, the FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 56.51 points to 12,500.76, while the FBM ACE Index eased 29.77 points to 4,897.10.
By sector, the Financial Services Index advanced 216.97 points to 20,274.08. The Energy Index fell 3.50 points to 770.33, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.34 of a point to 187.52, and the Plantation Index slipped 5.19 points to 9,295.79.
