Bursa Malaysia closed the morning trading session slightly higher on Friday (July 21), supported by persistent buying in selected heavyweights amid the positive tone in most regional peers.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.70 points to 1,409.39, from 1,406.69 at Thursday’s close.
The barometer index opened 0.79 of-a-point firmer at 1,407.48 and moved between 1,405.64 and 1,410.90 throughout the session.
However, the broader market was negative as decliners thumped gainers 489 to 306, while 404 counters were unchanged, 1,095 untraded and 14 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.86 billion units, worth RM980.87 million.
In a note on Friday, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said that following the emergence of bargain-hunting activities, the index-linked counters may continue to see some nibbling to build onto its recovery trend over the near term.
“However, we are cautious that the overbought position — for both the FBM Small Cap and FBM ACE — may present limited upsides,” it added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank (Malayan Banking Bhd) dropped two sen to RM8.78, Public Bank Bhd gained one sen to RM3.98, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd added four sen to RM5.26, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) added three sen to RM9.10, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was flat at RM6.50.
Of the actives, Classita Holdings Bhd gave up three sen to 16 sen, Top Glove Corp Bhd slipped 1.5 sen to 88.5 sen, while UEM Sunrise Bhd ticked up one sen to 46 sen, and XOX Bhd was flat at 1.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index put on 3.28 points to 10,421.56, the FBMT 100 Index was 6.71 points higher at 10,106.15, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 5.96 points to 10,715.69.
The FBM 70 Index slipped 44.32 points to 13,860.33 and the FBM ACE Index declined by 53.75 points to 5,327.12.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index perked up 26.84 points to 15,709.28, the Plantation Index rose 82.32 points to 7,054.83, and the Energy Index climbed 0.72 of-a-point to 816.59, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.92 of-a-point to 162.52.
