KUALA LUMPUR., Sept 30 – Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index extended its early gains at midday on Wednesday, supported by selective bargain hunting in heavyweights—primarily within the utilities sector—despite underlying market breadth remaining negative.
At 12:30 PM, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 10.18 points, or 0.62 per cent, to trade at 1,654.14 compared to Tuesday’s close of 1,643.96.
The benchmark index opened 2.53 points higher at 1,646.49 and moved between an intraday low of 1,645.03 and a high of 1,656.87 throughout the morning session.
Despite gains in the main index, market breadth remained cautious with decliners outpacing gainers 603 to 350, while 521 counters were unchanged, 1,381 untraded, and 95 suspended. Total turnover stood at 1.92 billion shares valued at RM1.49 billion.
Utilities and Blue-Chips Lead Gains
Utilities counters anchored the market’s recovery during the morning session:
- Tenaga Nasional surged 32 sen to RM13.04.
- Petronas Gas climbed 20 sen to RM17.38.
- YTL Corporation edged up 1 sen to RM2.30.
Among other heavyweights, consumer and plantation stocks saw notable buying interest:
- Nestle surged RM1.20 to RM90.12.
- United Plantations advanced 28 sen to RM31.60.
- Maybank gained 5 sen to RM10.04.
- IHH Healthcare picked up 3 sen to RM7.90.
- CIMB added 1 sen to RM7.79, while Public Bank slipped 2 sen to RM4.70.
Top Active Counters and Losers
In active trade, Gamuda continued its positive momentum following strong earnings results, recovering 20 sen to RM5.18. V.S Industry strengthened 1.5 sen to 25 sen, while Jaks Resources and Tanco added half a sen each to 19.5 sen and 16.5 sen, respectively. Zetrix AI closed flat at 16.5 sen.
On the losing end, Hengyuan Refining led the top decliners after tumbling 57 sen to RM3.77. Trading in the stock was halted for the remainder of the session after its price plunge triggered prescribed limit thresholds and forced a suspension of Intraday Short Selling (IDSS).
Other notable decliners included:
- Malaysian Pacific Industries, dropping 44 sen to RM40.36.
- Eurospan, losing 25 sen to RM2.99.
- Kuala Lumpur Kepong, shedding 22 sen to RM22.28.
- MI Technovation, declining 17 sen to RM5.22.
Index and Sectoral Performance
Sector performance was mixed, with energy stocks under pressure as international Brent crude prices eased slightly to US$103.08 per barrel:
- The Energy Index dropped 18.32 points to 850.38.
- The Financial Services Index gained 10.75 points to 19,271.60.
- The Plantation Index added 16.55 points to 9,232.89.
- The Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.32 of a point to 181.18.
Across the broader index boards:
The FBM ACE Index shed 33.86 points to 5,494.72.
The FBM Emas Index gained 40.32 points to 12,305.79.
The FBM Top 100 Index rose 46.83 points to 12,098.37.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index perked up 69.56 points to 12,197.17.
The FBM Mid 70 Index fell 48.14 points to 17,561.95.
–NMT
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