BURSA MALAYSIA ENDS MORNING SESSION FIRMER

By Anas Abu Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher amid renewed sentiment as the latest tariff-pause announcement helped ease concerns over a full-blown trade war and recessionary fears.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 64.41 points, up 4.60 per cent, to 1,465.00 from Wednesday’s close of 1,400.59.

The benchmark index opened sharply higher by 63.71 points at 1,464.30 and moved between 1,453.13 and 1,473.36 during the morning trading session.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers thumping decliners 989 to 166, while 261 counters were unchanged, 950 untraded and 10 suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.85 billion shares worth RM2.14 billion.

ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves noted that Asian equities are trading on a solid footing, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs.

“Market participants will now focus closely on any potential signal of talks or an agreement from China -- especially after all risk assets saw massive inflows yesterday afternoon on Wall Street,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Maybank jumped 47 sen to RM9.97, Public Bank rose 14 sen to RM4.23, Tenaga Nasional climbed 46 sen to RM13.28, CIMB added 54 sen to RM6.89, and IHH Healthcare gained five sen to RM6.76.

In active trade, MYEG rose 7.5 sen to 83 sen, Top Glove clinched 8.5 sen to 90.5 sen, Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen, Supermax put on 5.5 sen to 86 sen, SumiSaujana edged up half-a-sen to 18.5 sen, and Inari Amertron put on 23 sen to RM1.68.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 507.25 points to 10,851.03, the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 500.61 points to 10,649.45, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 497.21 points to 10,599.90.

The FBM 70 Index surged 845.37 points to 15,227.74, and the FBM ACE Index rose 201.13 points to 4,347.39.

Across sectors, the Financial Services Index jumped 823.72 points to 17,728.54, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 6.83 points to 138.87, the Energy Index strengthened 43.13 points to 655.72, and the Plantation Index added 214.56 points to 7,053.65.

-- BERNAMA