BURSA Malaysia ended the morning session slightly higher today amid the mixed performance of regional peers and rising crude oil prices.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 0.74 of a point to 1,35824 from 1,357.5 at Friday’s close.
The key index, which opened 0.44 of a point better at 1,357.94, moved between 1,352.78 and 1,359.41 in the morning session.
Glovemaker Top Glove lifted the composite index by 1.027 points after rising 22 sen to RM6.72 with 4.74 million shares changing hands.
On the scoreboard, gainers and losers were almost unchanged at 323 and 350, while 325 counters were unchanged, 920 untraded and 32 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.67 billion shares worth RM745.42 mil.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, in a note, said the FBM KLCI might experience a pullback with the 1,400 level continuing to serve as the immediate resistance.
“With the economic situation unlikely to improve anytime soon, the weakness might trigger a pullback on the FBM KLCI which chalked hefty gains over the past couple of weeks,” the research firm said in a note.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and other oil-producing nations on Sunday agreed to cut production by nearly 10 million barrels per day, or a tenth of global supply, in May and June.
The move, aimed at stabilising the market price following the collapse in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the multi-week oil price war between Russia and its OPEC allies, was the single largest output cut in history.
Among oil and gas linked companies on Bursa, Petronas Dagangan gained two sen to RM21.04, Bumi Armada and Sapura Energy inched up half-a-sen each to 17.5 sen and 10.5 sen respectively, Hibiscus Petroleum added one sen to 50.5 sen, while Velesto was flat at 16 sen.
Of the heavyweights, Tenaga and Maxis rose four sen each to RM12.08 and RM5.20 respectively, IHH Healthcare added one sen to RM5.10, while Petronas Chemicals and CIMB were flat at RM4.82 and RM3.52 respectively.
Maybank was three sen lower at RM7.47 and Public Bank trimmed six sen to RM15.82.
Among the actives, Minetech bagged two sen to 22.5 sen, Careplus gained 2.5 sen to 31 sen, Lambo added half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, while VS Industry perked 3.5 sen to 97.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index recovered 4.64 points to 9,396.69, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 13.77 points o 10,376.88, the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 4.1 points to 9,292.76 and the FBM 70 added 0.97 of a point to 11,015.72 and the FBM Ace chalked up 74.67 points to 4,091.7.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.01 of a point to 109.49, the Financial Services Index gave up 33.3 points to 12,245.61 and the Plantation Index fell 44.55 points to 6,203.1. — April 13, 2020, Bernama
