By BERNAMA
Bursa Malaysia extended its gains at mid-afternoon today on bargain hunting amid positive sentiment on regional bourses, dealers said.
At 3.02pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased by 19.96 points to 1,620.88 compared with Thursday’s close of 1,600.92 points.
It opened 8.48 points higher at 1,609.4.
Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers by 581 to 244, while 281 counters were unchanged, 646 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.24 billion shares worth RM946.23 million.
A dealer said banking counters were some of the best performers on the bourse following Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) move to cut statutory reserve requirements to improve liquidity in the financial system.
BNM also maintained its policy rate at 3.25%.
Japan’s Nikkei rose by 5.88% to 19,958.53, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 2.81% to 19,063.29 and Singapore’s Straits Times perked 1.8% to 2,578.33.
The top gainers were PPB Group which rose by 46 sen to RM16.08, and Petronas Dagangan and Hong Leong Financial perked 42 sen to RM24.22 and RM13.14 respectively.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank rose 34 sen to RM18.20, TNB gained 16 sen to RM12.78, Maybank added 12 sen to RM8.30 and Genting Bhd edged up 23 sen to RM7.25.
Ajinomoto fell 19 sen to RM7.90, Nestle lost 10 sen to RM73.32, Boustead Holdings eased 9 sen to RM3.80 and JMR Conglomeration fell 9 sen to RM1.03.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index surged 126.78 points to 11,303.66, FBMT100 Index rose 123.74 points to 11,005.15 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index was 106.28 points higher to 12,211.88.
The FBM ACE rose by 89.93 points to 5,944.33 and the FBM 70 added 100.01 points to 12,674.18.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was 23.97 points higher at 3,122.64, Plantation Index increased 33.77 points to 7,461.43 and the Finance Index leaped 185.85 points to 13,567.76.
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