KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia stayed higher at midday, supported by buying activities, in tandem with the stronger performance across most regional markets.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.33 points to 1,728.73 from yesterday’s close of 1,720.40.
The benchmark index opened 0.83 points higher at 1,721.23, before fluctuating between 1,715.67 and 1,730.12 throughout the morning trading session.
The broader market was positive with gainers outpacing losers 609 to 350, while 497 counters were unchanged, 1,285 untraded and 56 suspended.
Turnover totalled 1.60 billion shares worth RM1.35 billion.
Regionally, South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index soared 14.81 per cent to 6,422.22, Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 3.65 per cent to 64,124.55 and Shanghai’s SSE Composite Index improved 0.76 per cent to 3,833.65.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s IDX Composite Index eased 0.48 per cent to 6,216.28, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 0.11 per cent to 25,830.58 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined 0.82 per cent to 5,626.87.
At noon, technology stocks led the top gainers list in the local bourse after Microsoft reported better earnings of US$90 billion for the fourth quarter (4Q) of fiscal year (FY) 2026 ending June 30, higher by 18 per cent from 4Q FY2025.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Tenaga Nasional and CIMB added two sen each to RM10.90, RM14.64 and RM7.85, respectively, Public Bank rose three sen to RM5.19 and IHH Healthcare eased one sen to RM8.34.
As for the active stocks, Zetrix AI gained two sen to 73.5 sen, Nationgate recovered eight sen to RM1.21, V.S Industry added 1.5 sen to 23.5 sen, SFP Tech Holdings recovered three sen to 36.5 sen and HHRG gained one sen to 13.5 sen.
Of the lead gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries climbed RM2.74 to RM45.74, Nestlé gained RM2.70 to RM102.20, ViTrox jumped 79 sen to RM8.79, Pentamaster added 35 sen to RM5.35 and Petronas Dagangan advanced 36 sen to RM19.56.
Concrete Engineering Products led the losers list, falling 16 sen to RM3.30, United Plantations lost 14 sen to RM33.56, Allianz Malaysia was eased one sen to RM21.10, Hong Leong Industries slid eight sen to RM17.92 and Kim Hin Industry fell six sen to 82 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 81.52 points to 12,775.85, the FBM Top 100 Index added 78.20 points to 12,609.51, and the FBM Mid 70 Index rose 187.03 points to 18,155.82.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 106.35 points to 12,636.85, and the FBM ACE Index climbed 60.55 points to 4,983.32.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.52 points to 188.52, the Energy Index gained 4.26 points to 765.32 and the Financial Services Index firmed 66.55 points to 20,320.37, while the Plantation Index slipped 7.14 points to 9,319.92.
-- BERNAMA