Bursa Malaysia extended its gains at midday, supported by sustained buying interest in heavyweight financial and telecommunications counters, even as broader market sentiment turned cautious.
At 12:30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.51 points to 1,662.34, up 0.33% from its close of 1,656.83 on July 1.
The broader indices, however, showed mixed performance, with the FBM 70 slipped 85.53 points to 17,830.84, while the FBM Emas edged up 12.40 points to 12,361.52. Meanwhile, the FBM Sha was little changed, easing 6.21 points to 12,234.51, and the F4GBM advanced 1.10 points to 1,001.74.
Market breadth weakened at midday, with decliners outpacing advancers 574 to 353. A total of 452 counters were unchanged, while 1,262 remained untraded and 15 were suspended.
Top losers were mainly healthcare and industrial names, with Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd leading the laggards as the counter fell RM1 to RM32, followed by Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd declining 70 sen to RM48.30, followed by UMS Integration Limited, which slipped 32 sen to RM8.17. Bintulu Port Holdings Bhd eased 25 sen to RM5.25 and BLD Plantations Bhd dropped 20 sen to RM14.80.
On the upside, blue-chip buying was concentrated in defensive and index-linked counters, with Nestle (M) Bhd rising 38 sen to RM92.14. Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd also gained 22 sen to RM28.16, while Telekom Malaysia Bhd climbed 17 sen to RM7.50. Plantation-linked counters were also firmer, as United Plantations Bhd added 22 sen to RM33.20, while PPB Group Bhd increased 16 sen to RM9.32.
For the most actively traded counters, it saw mixed performance as the trading activity remained concentrated in speculative and mid-cap counters, with Zetrix AI Bhd edging up one sen to 77.5 sen on heavy volume trading of nearly 71.7 million shares. Tanco Holdings Bhd eased half-a-sen to 17 sen, while Dagang NeXchange slipped two sen to 43 sen. Meanwhile, Silver Ridge Holdings Bhd rose 1.5 sen to 19 sen and Visdynamics Holdings Bhd surged six sen to 36 sen.
Overall, market activity stayed robust at midday, with 1.59 billion shares traded, valued at RM908.54 million, reflecting sustained participation despite the mixed broader market tone.
