KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session on a positive note, tracking the overnight rally on Wall Street, a dealer said.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 11.70 points to 1,448.68 from yesterday’s close of 1,436.98.

The benchmark index opened 4.18 points higher at 1,441.60.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 426 to 303, while 382 counters were unchanged, 1,177 untraded and eight others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.23 billion units worth RM580.80 million.

In a note, Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said it expects the back-to-back gains on Wall Streets to spill over to Bursa Malaysia today, boosting FBM KLCI to retest the 1,440-1,460 levels.

"However, the underlying sentiment should stay weak in the absence of fresh catalysts as reflected by the subdued average daily value traded, with investors weighing the ongoing United States (US) second quarter of 2022 results season and Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on July 26-27,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, both Maybank and Public Bank rose by one sen to RM8.70 and RM4.44, respectively, Petronas Chemicals added eight sen to RM8.63, IHH Healthcare gained five sen to RM6.48 and CIMB Group strengthened nine sen to RM5.18.

Of the actives, Focus Dynamics Group and Infoline Tec Group edged up one sen each to three sen and 29 sen, respectively, Hibiscus Petroleum grew 2.5 sen to 85 sen, Bintai Kinden Corporation slid half-a-sen to 11.5 sen and MMAG Holdings was flat at five sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 82.60 points to 10,282.57, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 78.64 points to 10,378.05, the FBM 70 was 116.58 points higher at 12,347.61, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 84.27 points to 10,043.41 and the FBM ACE improved 23.44 points to 4,711.86.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index added 73.11 points to 6,862.37, the Financial Services Index gained 135.60 points to 16,202.46, the Energy Index was 3.88 points higher at 635.67 and the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.78 points to 175.65. ― Bernama