Bursa Malaysia turns positive at mid-afternoon

KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 ― Bursa Malaysia reversed its earlier downtrend to stay in positive territory at mid-afternoon, thanks to gains in selected index-linked counters.

Bucking the regional trend, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 3.27 points to 1,460.77 as at 3.06pm against 1,457.5 at yesterday's close.

Gains in CIMB, Petronas Chemicals and Hartalega lifted the composite index by a combined 7.121 points.

The overall market breadth also turned positive with gainers outpacing losers 540 to 404, while 352 counters were unchanged, 604 untraded and 50 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 5.3 billion units worth RM3.76 billion.

A dealer said some investors in the local market were hoping for a possible stimulus by Beijing to spur China's economy, to offset the weak sentiment brought about by rising Sino-United States tensions.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei Index eased 0.18 per cent to 21,877.89, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index contracted 0.75 per cent to 22,958.11 and Singapore's Straits Times Index declined 0.24 per cent to 2,509.28.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank bagged four sen to RM7.45, Petronas Chemicals rose 16 sen to RM6.35 while Hartalega earned 34 sen to RM11.48.

Tenaga lost 24 sen to RM11.66, Public Bank eased 14 sen to RM15.04, while both IHH and Maxis inched down half-a-sen each to RM5.41 and RM5.34 respectively.

Among actives, Careplus surged 22 sen to RM1.33, while XOX, AT Systematization, and Sanichi added one sen each to 7.5 sen, six sen and 10.5 sen respectively.

Eduspec slipped half-a-sen to 2.5 sen while Key Alliance was flat at 7.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 55.84 points to 10,388.78, the FBMT 100 Index put on 49.47 points to 10,233.76, the FBM Emas Shariah Index garnered 60.44 points to 11,950.87, the FBM 70 chalked up 171.09 points to 13,125.75 and the FBM ACE increased 48.85 points to 5,578.47.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.96 points to 129.74,  the Financial Services Index rose 71.04 points to 12,450.59 but the Plantation Index dipped 39.11 points to 6,770.64. ― Bernama