Malaysia's tech index outpaces peers after US-Vietnam trade deal
Driven by renewed buying interest following the United States-Vietnam trade agreement, the index rose 0.78 of-a-point or 1.5 per cent to 52.81 at midday from Wednesday's close of 52.03.
Trading volume soared to 21.7 million units, reaching its highest level in nearly four weeks.
The index, comprising 49 component stocks, has climbed 8.6 per cent since June 23, although it remains down 18.9 per cent year-to-date.
Zetrix AI Bhd, formerly known as MyEG Services Bhd, led the most active board with over 50 million shares traded in the morning session.
The stock gained one sen or one per cent to 97.5 sen from the previous close of 96.5 sen, lifting its market capitalisation to RM7.5 billion.
The other three high-volume tech stocks were NexG Bhd, Dagang Nexchange Bhd (DNeX) and Inari Amertron Bhd, which saw trading volumes ranging from 20.7 million to 40.4 million units.
NexG rose half a sen or 1.32 per cent to 38.5 sen, DNeX climbed half a sen or 1.71 per cent to 29.5 sen and Inari edged up four sen or two per cent to RM2.04.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Wall Street's sentiment improved after the US-Vietnam trade agreement, which imposes a 20 per cent tariff on Vietnamese goods while allowing US products to be sold in Vietnam without duties.
"With a positive lead from Wall Street, especially the buying interest in tech stocks following the trade deal, we expect the buying interest to spillover to the local exchange.
"With the resumption of optimism surrounding the data centre developments, traders may want to monitor technology and telecommunication stocks like EG Industries Bhd, Mi Technovation Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd," the firm said.
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