KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session in positive territory, supported by persistent buying interest in key index-linked counters.
However, rubber gloves and selected energy-linked counters continued to be under selling pressure as market participants reaped profits from their recent gains.
At the lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KCLI (FBM KLCI) rose 10.83 points, or 0.77%, to 1,420.99 from 1,410.16 at Monday’s close.
The barometer index opened 9.61 points higher at 1,419.77 and moved between 1,418.76 and 1,423.89 throughout the morning session.
Market breadth, however, was negative with losers edging past gainers 509 to 425, while 363 counters were unchanged, 594 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Trading volume stood at 6.27 billion units worth RM2.63 bil.
Rubber glove counters continued to dominate the top losers list on the local bourse with Hartalega shedding 30 sen to RM8.83 and Top Glove and Kossan declining 22 sen each to RM10.28 and RM7.51, respectively.
Supermax was eight sen weaker at RM4.38 and Rubberex fell 12 sen to RM1.78.
Energy-linked stocks continued to lead the most active counters as KNM fell one sen to 23 sen, Bumi Armada edged down half-sen to 25.5 sen, Icon Offshore and Sapura Energy ticked up half-sen to 13 sen and 10.5 sen respectively, while Velesto was unchanged at 17 sen.
The key index was supported by buying momentum in selected counters such as Petronas Chemicals, which rose 25 sen to RM5.81, while Maybank added eight sen to RM7.49 and Dialog accumulated 12 sen to RM3.65.
Plantation counters Sime Darby Plantation was nine sen better at RM4.79, while KLK, which is also the top gainer on the board, went up 52 sen to RM21.02.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index leapt 75.43 points to 10,054.77, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 79.69 points to 9,895.14 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 77.66 points firmer at 11,377.57.
The FBM 70 jumped 117.93 points to 12,473.30 but the FBM ACE slid 42.07 points to 5,361.24.
Sector-wise, Healthcare Index fell 22.36 points to 1,818.37 and the Energy Index retreated 3.77 points to 838.44.
The Financial Services Index gained 87.36 points to 12,418.45, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 2.10 points to 123.69 and the Plantation Index advanced 96.78 points to 6,430.46. – May 19, 2020, Bernama
