Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia concluded the morning session on a positive note, with the key index climbing by 0.34 percent as investors showed strong buying interest in banking stocks. At 12:30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased by 5.70 points to reach 1,675.27, compared to the previous close of 1,669.57.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the benchmark index opened 0.87 points higher at 1,670.44 and fluctuated between 1,670.28 and 1,676.60 throughout the morning trading hours. Although the broader market saw more decliners than gainers, with 478 counters down and 440 up, a total of 518 counters remained unchanged. Additionally, 1,213 counters were not traded, and 24 were suspended. The market turnover was reported at 1.57 billion shares valued at RM1.18 billion.
Kenny Yee, the head of research at Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd, noted that trading activity was predominantly focused on blue-chip stocks, while retail investors remained less active. He mentioned that the index is expected to remain within the 1,665-1,675 range for the day.
Among the major stocks, Maybank saw an increase of 14 sen to RM10.78, CIMB rose by 11 sen to RM8.17, and Hong Leong Bank gained 20 sen to RM22.84. Public Bank added two sen to RM4.51, while TNB remained unchanged at RM13.46, and CelcomDigi decreased by one sen to RM3.35.
In terms of the most actively traded stocks, Zetrix AI and Tanco each rose by one sen to 82.5 sen and RM1.24, respectively. VS Industry increased by half-a-sen to 48.5 sen, MMAG remained flat at seven sen, and Dagang Nexchange fell by 1.5 sen to 34.5 sen.
Noteworthy gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries, which climbed 62 sen to RM33.02, Vitrox, which advanced 40 sen to RM4.71, Fraser and Neave, which rose 34 sen to RM36.04, and United Plantations, which increased by 32 sen to RM33.44.
Conversely, among the top losers, Malayan Cement decreased by 19 sen to RM7.91, Panasonic dropped 13 sen to RM7.33, Hong Leong Industries shed 12 sen to RM16.54, and Analabs declined by 10 sen to RM1.68.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose by 37.94 points to 12,387.36, while the FBM Top 100 Index increased by 39.19 points to 12,175.94. The FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up by 7.05 points to 12,174.09, the FBM Mid 70 Index grew by 46.07 points to 17,365.65, and the FBM ACE Index decreased by 8.01 points to 4,974.20.
In sector-specific performance, the Financial Services Index strengthened by 169.74 points to 19,909.47, the Energy Index added 3.66 points to 773.97, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up by 0.15 points to 172.05, and the Plantation Index expanded by 35.13 points to 8,472.83.