KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia trended higher at mid-morning, echoing gains across regional markets and boosted by traders’ positive response to the government’s “Appreciation Package” announcement yesterday.
At 11 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) garnered 1.87 points to 1,531.66 from Wednesday’s close of 1,529.79.
The index opened 1.26 points firmer at 1,531.05.
Market breadth was positive with 375 gainers surpassing 336 losers, while 443 counters were unchanged, 1,362 untraded, and seven suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.42 billion shares worth RM626.88 million.
In a note, Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd said the announcements by the government were deemed market-friendly and spurred foreign buying interest.
At the same time, it noted that optimism over recent trade agreements with Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines may catalyse broader United States trade deals ahead of the Aug 1 deadline.
The much-awaited announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim included several key initiatives as a gesture of appreciation to all Malaysians, such as the one-off RM100 aid under the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah programme, a freeze on toll hikes for 10 highways, and a targeted subsidy reducing the RON95 fuel price to RM1.99 per litre.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM9.61, PPB was 11 sen better at RM9.41 and SD Guthrie improved five sen to RM4.80, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM3.37 and 99 SpeedMart slid two sen to RM2.32.
As for the actives, NexG was unchanged at 52 sen, Tan Chong Motor improved 3.5 sen to 91 sen, and DagangNews added 1.5 sen to 30 sen, while TWL and Tanco were flat at 2.5 sen and 91.5 sen, respectively.
On the broader index board, the FBM Emas Index was 8.22 points higher at 11,502.77, the FBMT 100 Index rose 9.89 points to 11,264.05, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was up 5.85 points to 11,522.33.
The FBM 70 Index fell 2.21 points to 16,641.88, while the FBM ACE Index reduced 1.03 points to 4,664.02.
By sector, the Financial Services Index put on 33.97 points to 17,464.22, the Plantation Index improved 33.03 points to 7,444.47 and the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.39 of a point to 155.04, while the Energy Index edged down 1.03 points to 742.15. – Bernama
