Bursa Malaysia continued its positive tone at midday on Friday, with gains led by Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI had increased 2.95 points to 1,452.53, from Thursday’s close of 1,449.58, after opening 0.49 point lower at 1,449.09.
The index moved between 1,448.75 and 1,455.30 throughout the morning trading session.
On the broader market, gainers outnumbered decliners 460 to 344, while 409 counters were unchanged, 1,160 untraded, and 23 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.9 billion units worth RM1.1 billion.
In a note, Hong Leong Investment Bank said the market’s performance was in sync with Wall Street’s rebound overnight, but the overall trade could remain choppy ahead of the triple witching day on Friday.
Triple witching is when the expiration of stock options, stock index futures and stock index options all falls on the same day.
It only happens four times a year — on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December respectively — which can create a spike in trading volume and volatility.
Meanwhile, regional stock markets were also on the uptrend, amid hopes of a pause in the US interest rate hike, while more stimulus measures from China helped to ease concerns around global growth.
China will cut the reserve requirement ratio for local banks by 25 basis points, which is expected to release more liquidity into its economy.
Back home, heavyweight TNB was 15 sen better at RM10.12, AMMB Holdings Bhd (AmBank) bagged eight sen to RM3.74, and Westports Holdings Bhd added seven sen to RM3.30.
Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) was four sen higher at RM8.88, and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd went up one sen to RM5.70.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy Bhd at six sen and Kinergy Advancement Bhd at 34 sen were both unchanged, while Alam Maritim Resources Bhd at 3.5 sen and Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd at 46 sen had inched up half a sen each.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index went up 28.29 points to 10,404.01, the FBM Emas Index added 29.73 points to 10,730.19, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 26.76 points to 10,966.03.
The FBM 70 Index gained 68.89 points to 14,220.44, while the FBM ACE Index was 42.78 points higher at 5,207.34.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 37.32 points to 16,274.74, the Energy Index was 10.17 points better at 891.58, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.58 points to 172.82, while the Plantation Index eased 0.19 of a point to 6,965.01.
