KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session slightly higher amidst quiet trading ahead of the long Chinese New Year weekend.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 2.55 points to 1,515.66 from yesterday’s close of 1,513.11.

The barometer index, which opened 0.08 of-a-point higher at 1,513.19, moved between 1,513.19 and 1,521.18 throughout the session.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing decliners 412 to 335, while 420 counters were unchanged, 1,121 untraded and 10 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.60 billion units worth RM885.79 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that the daily volume traded has shrunk to previous levels, averaging at around 3.0 billion shares, thus depicting the lack of trading interests, especially from the retailers.

"However, as buying from foreign funds continues, this hopefully will cascade down to the smaller cap stocks. For today, we expect the benchmark index to hover within the 1,510-1,520 range,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, CIMB appreciated six sen to RM6.26, Petronas Chemicals was up by three sen to RM6.71, Public Bank, TNB and Press Metal were flat at RM4.39, RM10.82 and RM4.64, respectively, while Maybank and IHH Healthcare slid each one sen to RM9.28 and RM6.13, respectively.

As for the actives, Sarawak Cable added half-a-sen to 13 sen and Reneuco was one sen higher at six sen, while Pegasus Heights was flat at half-a-sen and both Ucrest and Handal Resources eased one sen to 12 sen and 8.0 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 23.04 points higher at 11,247.02, and the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 20.94 points to 10,913.14.

The FBM ACE Index increased by 18.34 points to 4,739.94, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved by 24.95 points to 11,265.06, and the FBM 70 Index advanced by 39.87 points to 15,157.70.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index went up 23.78 points to 7,191.06, and the Financial Services Index gained 18.72 points to 16,966.79.

The Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.53 of-a-point to 172.27, the Property Index added 2.36 points to 901.78, and the Energy Index gained 7.83 points to 880.79. ― Bernama