KL shares higher at mid-day buying support for glove makers

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session on a high note today, on persistent buying support from the index-linked counters led by glove makers Hartalega and Top Gloves.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 13.45 points to 1,450.21 from 1,436.76 at Friday’s close.

The index opened 10.15 points higher at 1,446.91 and hovered between 1,446.42 and 1,458.24 throughout the early session.

A dealer said sentiment in the market was positive, tracking the better overnight performance on Wall Street as optimism for economic recovery is building up.

The better performance on Bursa Malaysia was also contributed by gains in the small capitalisation stocks, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Small Cap Index surging 419.27 points to 14,499.31.

The overall market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 574 to 346, while 349 counters were unchanged, 626 untraded and 24 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 3.97 billion units worth RM2.63 billion.

Among heavyweights, Public Bank added two sen to RM15.28, IHH perked three sen to RM5.46, Petronas Chemicals bagged 21 sen to RM6.11, while Maybank slipped two sen to RM7.41 and Tenaga fell four sen to RM12.16.

Of the most actives, Key Alliance gained 1.5 sen to nine sen, GD Express inched up half-a-sen to 42 sen, Velesto added one sen to 17 sen, while Sapura Energy was flat at 10 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 110.46 points to 10,287.58, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 107.97 points to 10,133.23 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 199.44 points to 11,819.78.

The FBM ACE increased 110.63 points to 5,498.42 and the FBM 70 chalked up 194.03 points to 12,889.19.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index gained 59.33 points to 6,782.18, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 2.13 points to 126.52, while the Financial Services Index gave up 23.82 points to 12,356.91. — Bernama