KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Bursa Malaysia stayed higher at midday on Tuesday, in line with regional bourses’ upbeat performance. 

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.02 points, or 0.32% to 1,564.61 from Monday's close of 1,559.59.

The benchmark index opened 0.22 of a point better at 1,559.81, and moved between 1,559.81 and 1,567.57 throughout the morning trading session. 

On the broader market, gainers led decliners 533 to 407, while 431 counters were unchanged, 1,003 untraded and 22 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.35 billion units worth RM1.36 billion. 

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd believes that the positive momentum could persist as the KL20 Summit 2024 is anticipated to bring in more investments into the technology sector.

“With the Nasdaq rebounding overnight and the KL20 Summit 2024 where Malaysia aims to position itself as the chip powerhouse in the Southeast Asian region, traders may shift their focus back to the technology sector.

“This shift could drive momentum in construction, property, utilities, and building materials segments moving forward," it said in a note on Tuesday. 

Among the heavyweights, Maybank Bhd added nine sen to RM9.83, Public Bank Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd rose four sen to RM4.24 and RM6.66, respectively, Tenaga Nasional Bhd gained two sen to RM11.66, and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd improved three sen to RM6.84. 

As for the actives, Topmix Bhd went up 12.5 sen to 43.5 sen, Ancom Logistics Bhd shed 4.5 sen to 18  sen and Ingenieur Gudang Bhd was half a sen lower at 13.5 sen, while Sapura Energy Bhd and Fitters Diversified Bhd were flat at 4.5 sen and five sen, respectively. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 41.03 points to 11,724.65, the FBM 70 Index climbed 71.50 points to 16,226.43, the FBMT 100 Index perked 39.96 points to 11,370.2, the FBM Emas Shariah Index recovered 26.1 points to 11,861.51 and the FBM ACE Index ticked up 30.82 points to 4,960.16. 

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index picked up 0.54 of a point to 185.62 and the Financial Services Index soared 109.49 points to 17,378.78, while the Energy Index went down 6.04 points to 966.08 and the Plantation Index dropped 11.92 points to 7,404.27.