Afternoon rally

BURSA Malaysia rebounded from a lacklustre performance in the morning session to end higher yesterday, said a dealer.

ThE FBM KLCI finished at 1,757.96, up 3.29 points. The key index moved between 1,749.95 and 1,760.84. during the morning session after opening 1.53 points lower.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 551 to 354 with 409 counters remained unchanged, 620 untraded and 39 suspended.

A dealer said trading was slightly choppy with buying interspersed with selling in blue-chip stocks amid negative external sentiments in the earlier session before turning positive in mid-afternoon on buying support for FBM KLCI-linked counters, led by IHH Healthcare and Petronas Chemicals.

On the top gainers list, Nestle rose 60 sen to RM148.600, BAT increased 48 sen to RM34.18 and Vitrox added 34 sen to RM5.79.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank added 2 sen each to RM9.81 and RM23.96, respectively, Petronas Chemicals gained 7 sen to RM8.81, CIMB improved 5 sen to RM5.86, and Tenaga Nasional shed 4 sen to RM14.78.

The dealer said Bursa Malaysia’s performance was in tandem with Southeast Asian markets. Major Asian bourses, however, mostly dipped on fears of more trade protectionist measures from the United States, he added. – Bernama