BURSA Malaysia was broadly higher at midday, with the key index rising by more than 1% due to positive regional market sentiment following better trade data from China, dealers said.
The benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) soared 13.87 points or 1.02% to end the morning session at 1,369.9 from 1,356.03 at Monday’s close.
The key index moved between 1,361.01 and 1,370.74 in the morning session.
Petronas Chemicals lifted the composite index by a substantial 3.786 points after rising 26 sen to RM5.08 with 2.35 million shares changing hands.
Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times was up 2.46% to 2,630.31, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index increased 0.65% to 24,457.83 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2.86% to 19,587.87.
A dealer said regional investors cheered China’s better-than-expected trade data for March with imports fell but not as much as expected, while exports declined at a slower-than-expected pace.
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Tuesday, exports from China fell 6.6% year-on-year while imports contracted by a marginal 0.9%.
The overall market breadth on Bursa was bullish with gainers outpacing losers 571 to 170, while 285 counters were unchanged, 879 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.33 billion shares worth RM973.08 mil.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB bagged six sen each to RM7.51 and RM3.56 respectively, Tenaga chalked up 14 sen to RM12.18, and Maxis gained three sen to RM5.32.
Public Bank was flat at RM15.84 but IHH Healthcare slipped two sen to RM5.09.
Among the actives, Lambo was one sen better at two sen, Vortex and Bioalpha inched up half-a-sen each to nine sen and 11 sen respectively, while Minetech bagged two sen to 25 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded 118.06 points to 9,476.1, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 139.85 points to 10,471.44, the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 113.04 points to 9,371.39, the FBM 70 jumped 209.52 points to 11,104.15 and the FBM ACE garnered 202.16 points to 4,213.17.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 2.97 points to 111.84, the Financial Services Index appreciated 92.61 points to 12,320.79 and the Plantation Index bagged 28.17 points to 6,232.97. — April 14, 2020, Bernama
