Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia maintained its upward trajectory at midday, bolstered by significant buying interest in financial and telecommunications sectors. At 12:30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 5.51 points to 1,662.34, compared to Wednesday's close of 1,656.83.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the benchmark index opened 1.99 points higher at 1,658.82 and fluctuated between 1,657.77 and 1,666.26 during the morning session. Despite the overall positive movement, market breadth was negative, with 574 decliners surpassing 353 gainers, while 452 counters remained unchanged, 1,262 were untraded, and 15 were suspended. Turnover was recorded at 1.59 billion shares, valued at RM908.54 million.
The local stock market managed to outperform its regional counterparts, as investors across the region reduced exposure to artificial intelligence and semiconductor heavyweight stocks due to portfolio rebalancing, profit-taking, and concentration risk management. In regional markets, Shanghai's SSE Composite Index rose 0.90 percent to 4,075.31, Japan's Nikkei 225 decreased 1.17 percent to 69,272.11, South Korea's KOSPI Composite Index slipped 4.89 percent to 7,897.29, while Singapore's Straits Times Index increased 0.38 percent to 5,181.27.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd noted that the FBM KLCI is anticipated to remain volatile and headline-driven after a cautious start in July, with investor sentiment influenced by US-Iran diplomatic developments and expectations of a hawkish stance by the United States Federal Reserve, impacting the ringgit and trade flows.
In terms of heavyweight stocks, Maybank rose eight sen to RM10.74, Public Bank increased by five sen to RM4.80, Tenaga Nasional gained four sen to RM14.24, CIMB rose by three sen to RM7.45, while IHH dropped seven sen to RM8.23. Among the active counters, Zetrix AI, Pentech, and Velocity each increased by one sen to 77.5 sen, 30.5 sen, and seven sen, respectively, while Tanco fell half a sen to 17 sen and GIIB declined by one sen to 50 sen.
On the gainers' list, Nestle rose 38 sen to RM92.14, Telekom Malaysia increased 17 sen to RM7.50, and both United Plantations and F and N surged 22 sen each to RM33.20 and RM28.16, respectively. PPB went up by 16 sen to RM9.32.
Conversely, among the top losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries decreased by 70 sen to RM48.30, Vitrox fell by 13 sen to RM7.76, Chin Teck dropped by 16 sen to RM10.90, Malayan Cement lost 12 sen to RM6.21, and Pentamaster decreased by 10 sen to RM4.84.
On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index increased by 11.61 points to 12,360.73, while the FBM Top 100 Index added 15.06 points to 12,190.48. The FBM Emas Shariah Index, however, decreased by 6.21 points to 12,234.51. The FBM Mid 70 Index fell by 85.52 points to 17,830.84, and the FBM ACE Index shed 14.98 points to 4,853.76.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged by 107.98 points to 19,593.75, the Plantation Index added 42.76 points to 8,885.80, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down by 0.53 of-a-point to 179.86, and the Energy Index trimmed 7.90 points to 748.65.