Bursa: Bursa Malaysia extended its gains at midday, driven by advances in selected heavyweight financial services and telecommunications stocks. At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 7.27 points to 1,592.86, from Monday’s close of 1,585.59. The benchmark index, which opened 7.38 points higher at 1,592.97, moved between 1,590.78 and 1,599.43 during the morning trading session.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, on the broader market, advancers led decliners 428 versus 418, while 493 counters were unchanged, 1,020 untraded, and 17 suspended. Turnover was 2.27 billion shares, valued at RM1.26 billion. Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the local bourse may continue to experience volatility following the announcement of the chip export restrictions. The note highlighted potential trading opportunities within the oil and gas sector, supported by the United States sanctions on Russian oil and declining US inventories, which continues to drive a rebound in Brent crude oil. In the technology sector, the upside potential may be limited following recent announcements by US President Joe Biden, but there may be some oversold buying opportunities in electronic manufacturing services, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test, and automated test equipment players, driven by the strengthening US dollar.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank jumped 20 sen to RM10.28, Tenaga bagged six sen to RM13.96, and IHH increased five sen to RM7.15, while CIMB and Public Bank fell three sen each to RM8.07 and RM4.42 respectively. As for the active stocks, EA Holdings and TWL Holdings were flat at half-a-sen and three sen, respectively, Velocity Capital inched up half-a-sen to 8.5 sen, Harvest Miracle added 1.5 sen to 20 sen, Nationgate and Industronics gained one sen each to RM2.34 and 4.5 sen, respectively.

On the broader index, the FBM Emas Index gained 38.93 points to 12,218.29, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 40.43 points to 12,151.29, and the FBMT 100 Index climbed 43.25 points to 11,907.90. The FBM 70 Index added 25.30 points to 18,333.74, while the FBM ACE Index increased 2.40 points to 5,248.43. Sector-wise, the Energy Index went down 0.60 of-a-point to 835.19, the Financial Services Index jumped 74.92 points to 18,908.07, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.16 of-a-point to 168.30, and the Plantation Index gained 33.49 points to 7,476.44.