KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher in line with the regional bourses amid optimism over the United States’ (US) equities, said dealers.

At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia (FBM KLCI) rose 3.11 points to 1,611.18 after moving between 1,606.55 and 1,613.01 throughout the morning session.

The index opened 3.97 points higher at 1,612.04 compared with Monday’s close of 1,608.07.

On the broader market, gainers thumped losers 674 to 434, while 410 counters were unchanged, 643 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Volume stood at 8.28 billion units worth RM3.06 billion.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.76 per cent to 30,614.43, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng improved 1.8 per cent to 30,717.38 and Singapore’s STI gained 0.27 per cent to 2,939.44.

In a note today, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said Wall Street was closed for President’s Day yesterday.

“Nonetheless, optimism on US equities remain high with all three major indices futures currently trading at positive territory with the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures almost 180 points higher.

“Thus, we expect regional markets to trend higher today buoyed by sustained buying momentum,” it said.

On the local front, Rakuten said yesterday’s uptrend was broad based hence it believes liquidity to continue playing its part to support the FBM KLCI today.

“Therefore, we reckon the index to breach the 1,615 level today which formed a formidable resistant yesterday,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose five sen to RM8.17, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.22, PChem improved 24 sen to RM7.80, while Tenaga decreased 14 sen to RM10.04 and Top Glove receded two sen to RM6.15.

Of the actives, DGB Asia gained five sen to 14.5 sen, ARB improved 4.5 sen to 38 sen, Dataprep rose 23 sen to 49 sen, while Dagang NeXchange decreased 2.5 sen to 51 sen and Techna was half-a-sen lower at 17 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 40.09 points to 11,776.96, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 33.39 points to 11,474.51, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 27.68 points higher at 13,237.89.

The FBM 70 rose 88.41 points to 15,440.26 and the FBM ACE increased 125.68 points to 11,356.93.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 77.22 points to 15,193.17, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 2.96 points to 184.77, while the Plantation Index decreased 28.24 points to 7,167.66.

Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd has issued an unusual market activity (UMA) query to Widetech (M) Bhd today due to the sharp rise in the company's share prices and volume.

At lunch break, the company’s shares rose 37 sen to RM1.62 with 712,400 shares traded.

Bursa Malaysia said investors were advised to take note of the company's reply to the UMA query which would be posted on the bourse's website under 'Company Announcements' when making their investment decisions.

Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia also announced that the entire issued share capital of Chemical Company Of Malaysia Bhd will be removed from the official list of Bursa Malaysia with effect from 9am Friday (February 19, 2021). ― Bernama