Bullish global cues lift Bursa Malaysia higher at midday

KUALA LUMPUR: Bullish global sentiment amid expectations of a resilient United States (US) job market helped lift Bursa Malaysia during the morning trading session, according to a dealer.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 8.96 points to 1,599.34 from Thursday's close of 1,590.38.

The index opened 10.78 points stronger at 1,601.16 and moved between 1,596.97 and 1,604.06 during the session.

On the broader market, gainers trounced losers 1,039 to 188, while 304 counters were unchanged, 911 untraded, and 22 others suspended.

Total turnover amounted to 2.59 billion units valued at RM1.45 billion.

The seasonally adjusted US jobless claims data declined by 17,000 to 233,000 for the week ended Aug 3 -- lower than the Dow Jones' estimate of 240,000, allaying fears of the creeping US unemployment rate and recessionary concerns.

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said that following Wall Street's positive rebound, buying support should emerge on the local front within the construction, property, utilities and technology sectors -- beneficiaries of the data centre catalyst and the artificial intelligence theme.

The brokerage firm also favours the consumer and shipping sectors due to the stronger ringgit, and the financial stocks may be worth accumulating given their decent dividend yield.

"As for the commodity markets, Brent oil strengthened amidst the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, while gold prices gained momentum, rising above US$2,420," it added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB added two sen to RM10.16 and RM7.32, respectively, Public Bank gained one sen to RM4.23 and MISC climbed six sen to RM8.49, while Tenaga Nasional shed four sen to RM13.96.

Of the actives, Cape EMS rose 2.5 sen to 50 sen, Ekovest edged up 1.5 sen to 40.5 sen and ATA IMS added 5.5 sen to 44 sen, while KGW and Velesto Energy were unchanged at 25 sen and 21.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 135.27 points to 12,205.93, the FBMT 100 Index increased 116.71 points to 11,838.69, the FBM ACE Index rose 175.14 points to 5,374.53, the FBM 70 Index surged 361.01 points to 17,800.54 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index firmed 168.43 points to 12,358.17.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index was 14.92 points better at 924.84, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 3.68 points to 181.71, the Technology Index firmed by 2.57 points to 71.41, the Utilities Index was up 27.77 points to 1,774.20, the Financial Services Index improved 65.55 points to 18,085.16 and the Plantation Index bagged 40.38 points to 7,078.02.

-- BERNAMA

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