Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia's composite index remained in positive territory at the midday break, supported by bargain hunting in financial, consumer products and telecommunications heavyweight counters. At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 4.13 points to 1,592.04 from Wednesday's close of 1,587.91. The index opened 1.35 points higher at 1,589.26 and moved between 1,587.98 and 1,596.16 throughout the morning trading session.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, on the broader market, 525 decliners outpaced 384 gainers, while 443 counters were unchanged, with 1,292 untraded and 112 suspended. Turnover stood at 1.88 billion units worth RM1.44 billion. Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd stated that it expects the local bourse to track Wall Street's performance. The brokerage noted that the upside might be limited as Nvidia's results caused the stock to fall three percent in after-market trading. However, it still favors technology names such as Frontken Corporation and Inari Amertron.
In the utilities sector, YTL Power International and MN Holdings remain top picks, supported by the former's position as the country's artificial intelligence leader and the latter's strong quarterly results. The brokerage added that traders can look for opportunities in solar-related counters such as Solarvest Holdings, Pekat Group, and Northern Solar Holdings.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose 17 sen to RM9.96, while Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.33 and RM6.79, respectively. CIMB Group dipped one sen to RM7.45, and Tenaga Nasional slid 4.0 sen to RM13.44. As for the most active counters, Sime Darby improved six sen to RM1.96, while Zetrix AI and Tanco Holdings increased half-a-sen to 87.5 sen and 72.5 sen, respectively. Ekovest shaved 1.5 sen to 37 sen, and Borneo Oil was flat at half a sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 22.54 points to 11,811.78, the FBMT 100 Index gained 25.12 points to 11,585.96, and the FBM 70 Index improved 14.13 points to 16,583.72. The FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 4.45 points to 11,767.41, and the FBM ACE Index contracted 16.04 points to 4,730.91. Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 158.61 points to 18,241.18, the Energy Index added 1.09 points to 749.22, and the Plantation Index strengthened 59.36 points to 7,638.76. However, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 1.21 points to 163.33.