KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-morning in tandem with the performance of other Asian markets as investors are bullish on governments’ plans to boost spending to help economies and the rollout of Covid-19 vaccine programmes worldwide.
The higher crude oil trading at above US$55 per barrel also supported the positive sentiment, which can be seen in the buying interests in energy and transportation and logistics counters.
At 11.27am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.02 points to 1,588.51.
The index opened 3.53 points better at 1,584.02 compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,580.49.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 587 to 397, while 416 counters were unchanged, 729 untraded and 11 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 2.67 billion units worth RM1.88 billion.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank jumped 14 sen to RM7.99, Public Bank added two sen to RM4.12 and Petronas Chemicals gained 16 sen to RM7.07, but Top Glove was 13 sen weaker at RM6.92.
Of the actives, Iris Corp, which secured a massive government project last week, fell 1.5 sen to 37.5 sen, PA Resources was flat at 24 sen and Dagang Nexchange was 1.5 sen higher at 28 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 74.08 points to 11,519.43, the FBMT 100 Index increased 68.79 points to 11,261.74 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 61.22 points to 13,078.76.
The FBM 70 advanced 137.56 points to 14,955.76 and the FBM ACE rose 137.06 points to 10,928.01.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lifted 157.39 points to 14,605.97 and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 2.17 points to 172.87 while the Plantation Index slipped 8.99 points to 7,157.28.
— Bernama
