Bursa Malaysia higher at midday break
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 6.81 points to 1,548.34 from Tuesday's close of 1,541.53.
The benchmark index had opened 1.80 points lower at 1,539.73.
However, the broader market was slightly negative with 430 decliners leading 397 gainers, while 469 counters were unchanged, 1,095 untraded and 14 suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.09 billion units worth RM1.20 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the local benchmark index is expected to hover in the 1,540-1,550 range today.
"Wall Street ended mixed overnight as traders rotated out of tech companies. United States (US) President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act was narrowly passed in the Senate but is still subject to House approval. Meanwhile, the US 10-year yield edged slightly higher at 4.242 per cent.
"On the domestic front, the FBM KLCI closed higher. We reckon this is due to some accumulation from the foreign funds. It is interesting to see net foreign inflows taking place over the past few days," he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB added 2.0 sen each to RM9.74 and RM6.77, respectively, Public Bank rose 4.0 sen to RM4.30 and IHH Healthcare improved 1.0 sen to RM6.81, while Tenaga Nasional declined 12 sen to RM14.78.
As for the most active stocks, ASM Automation eased half-a-sen to 16.5 sen, Tanco slipped 1.0 sen to 88 sen, Gamuda gained 10 sen to RM5.07 and Compugates was flat at 1.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 39.68 points to 11,564.27, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 39.84 points to 11,343.66, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 29.49 points to 11,590.90.
The FBM 70 Index advanced 14.02 points to 16,571.39, while the FBM ACE Index went down 28.46 points to 4,463.55.
By sector, the Financial Services Index surged 76.27 points to 17,680.91, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.17 of-a-point to 154.47 and the Energy Index added 1.82 points to 743.36, while the Plantation Index trimmed 3.76 points to 7,398.40.
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