KL shares on firm note at mid-morning

By BERNAMA

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were on a firm note at mid-morning today with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) trading 0.5% higher.

At 11.05am, the key index was 8.17 points better at 1,634.83 from Tuesday’s 1,626.66 points, after opening 0.64 point higher at 1,627.30.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing decliners 423 to 217, while 276 counters were unchanged, 846 untraded and 59 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 592.05 million shares worth RM421.56 million.

A dealer said Wall Street’s upbeat overnight performance had attracted buyers with investors wading into selective value-buy blue chips in oil and gas, banking and telecommunications.

Leading movers in the FBM KLCI component stocks at mid-morning were Petronas Gas which improved 72 sen to RM21.94, CIMB which garnered 7 sen to RM4.11 and SapuraKencana which rose 8 sen to RM1.68.

Petronas Chemicals, meanwhile, advanced 5 sen to RM6.89, while Axiata advanced 4 sen to RM6.12.

On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index jumped 53.25 points to 11,358.55, the FBMT100 Index increased 50.19 points to 11,063.78, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 63.52 points to 12,264.72.

The FBM 70 rose 38.89 points to 12,612.22 while the FBM Ace surged 78.94 points to 5,906.10.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index bagged 53.95 points to 13,606.49, the Plantation Index climbed 17.27 points to 7,487.56, while the Industrial Index advanced 5.73 points to 3,180.02.

Among actives, Media Shoppe and XOX were flat at 9 sen and 18 sen respectively, while Eka Noodles and Sanichi improved half-a-sen each to 14 sen and 7.5 sen respectively.