By BERNAMA
Bursa Malaysia kept itself in positive territory at the end of the morning session today, but gains were limited as investor sentiment stayed tepid amid external factors.
At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,670.34, up 4.64 points, after moving between 1,661.69 and 1,672.44 throughout the morning session.
A dealer said local stocks had experienced a volatile trading session, but managed to pare earlier losses, to marginally claw back into the black.
Hong Leong Investment Bank said in the near term, Bursa Malaysia is likely to brace for choppy times, amid unresolved internal and external headwinds.
These include the ringgit’s weakness, suppressed commodity prices, slower China growth, revival of Middle East geopolitical conflicts and the Federal Reserve rate hike cycle.
“Nevertheless, we believe severe downside risks are well-shielded by the reintroduction of Valuecap funds, positive ongoing progress of the 1MDB restructuring and the undervalued ringgit, could provide another good basis of return of foreign exposures on the local equities,” it added.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 473 to 295, with 338 counters unchanged, 617 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Trading was active with turnover amounting to 1.32 billion shares worth RM972.76 million.
Among actives, Supermax edged up 2.5 sen to 34.5 sen, Naim increased 6 sen to RM2.54, EA Holdings and GPA Holdings improved half-a-sen to 12 sen and 9.5 sen respectively.
Of the heavyweights, Public Bank gained four sen to RM18.36, Petronas Chemicals increased 7 sen to RM7.53, while Maybank and TNB were flat at RM8.33 and RM13.20 respectively.
On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index was 46.51 points higher at 11,694.19, the FBMT100 Index rose 42.47 points to 11,361.55 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 55.30 points at 12,722.23.
The FBM 70 rose 88.49 points to 13,158.76 and the FBM Ace appreciated 51.72 points to 17,529.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index increased 9.19 points to 3,230.68, the Finance Index accumulated 34.86 points for 14,001.98, and the Plantation Index expanded 83.52 points to 7,734.25.
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