KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia maintained its uptrend at midday, with the key index increasing by 0.48 per cent, lifted by buying interest in selected heavyweights amidst firmer performance in regional markets.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 7.95 points to 1,642.86 from Wednesday's close of 1,634.91.
The benchmark index, which had opened 4.84 points firmer at 1,639.75, traded between 1,638.67 and 1,644.44 throughout the morning session.
On the broader market, gainers led decliners 485 to 424, with 463 counters unchanged, 1,069 untraded and 22 suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.52 billion units valued at RM982.29 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects the traders to focus on the upcoming consumer price index and producer price index data for the United States (US) over the next two trading days to gauge the direction of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.
Back home, it foresees investors position themselves ahead of the Budget 2025 tabling by trading in e-invoicing, construction, property, building materials, utilities and consumer-related stocks.
"Also, the ongoing rally in crude palm oil prices may lead to a positive trading sentiment in plantation stocks.
"Moreover, with the ringgit showing a weakening bias compared to last week, sentiment could shift toward export-related stocks," it said in a note today.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank rose four sen to RM10.54, CIMB gained 12 sen to RM8.15, IHH Healthcare was up by nine sen to RM7.31, while Tenaga Nasional and Hong Leong shed two sen each to RM14.40 and RM21.08, respectively.
Of the active counters, Pertama Digital was 7.5 sen higher to 32 sen, MY EG was two sen firmer to 92.5 sen, Top Glove gained up three sen to RM1.08, while KHPT and Talam were unchanged at 20.5 sen and two sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 54.52 points to 12,325.03, the FBMT 100 Index rose by 55.14 points to 12,023.97, and the FBM 70 Index gained 69.18 points to 17,574.85.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 48.03 points to 12,214.66, but the FBM ACE Index slid 10.14 points to 5,149.88.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index gained 5.57 points to 7,177.74, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.75 points higher to 176.03, the Energy Index increased by 0.05 points to 884.11, and the Financial Services Index rose by 86.78 points to 19,332.47.