KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session on a firm note today, lifted by gains in selected bluechips. At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 6.03 points to 1,773.41, after moving between 1,755.09 and 1,776.07 throughout the morning session. Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 418 to 270, while 290 counters were unchanged, 849 untraded and 16 others suspended. Turnover stood at 881.08 million shares worth RM827.88 million.
Far East rose 30 sen to RM8.32 and United Plantations gained 28 sen to RM26.50, while Syarikat Takaful increased 21 sen to RM3.30.
Kenanga Research revised its weekly trading range downwards towards the 1,750-1,800 points with a downside-bias on the lack of a fresh catalyst and poor domestic sentiment.
“However, we do not discount the possibility of some intermittent technical rebounds during the course of the week in view of the oversold situation,” it said in a note.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank declined 3.0 sen to RM9.14, Tenaga added 6.0 sen to RM13.30, Public Bank gained 20 sen to RM19.16 and Axiata rose 16 sen to RM6.65.
AirAsia X remained the most actively traded stock in the morning session, with its shares half-a-sen lower at 28.5 sen, followed by Frontken, which increased half-a-sen sen to 29.5 sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index appreciated 31.72 points to 12,243.49, the FBM Emas Shariah was 38.51 points better at 12,700.52, the FBMT100 Index inched up 29.28 points to 11,926.62 and the FBM 70 contracted 10.33 points to 13,317.18.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 27.27 points at 15,831.39 and the Plantation Index weakened 4.43 points to 7,409.23, while the Industrial Index decreased 7.02 points to 3,220.73. – Bernama