KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session on a firmer footing, supported by bargain hunting in selected heavyweights, led by IHH Healthcare, Tenaga Nasional and Kuala Lumpur Kepong.At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 4.83 points to 1,497.06 from Friday’s close of 1,492.23.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 406 to 348, while 380 counters were unchanged, 1,108 untraded and 18 others suspended.Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, in a note, said it remains positive on the technology sector amid the extended uptrend movement in Nasdaq as well as the anticipation of better earnings from tech companies in the upcoming reporting season.
Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd said with global equities showing signs of stabilising in reaction to hints of a slower pace of interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve last week — “no news may be good news” for now. It said for the week ahead, the calendar of events is fairly quiet on the macro front with just Malaysia’s manufacturing PMI scheduled to be out later today.
Maybank fell one sen to RM8.85, Public Bank lost two sen to RM4.62, and both Petronas Chemical and CIMB added four sen each to RM8.92 and RM5.25 respectively.