KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher following an optimistic reaction on wall Street to recent economic data and subsequent gains in Asian markets.
Malaysia’s 4Q gross domestic product report was released at noon, showing slower-than-expected growth in the economy during the past quarter, although Bank Negara noted improving conditions in 2024.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 2.55 points to 1,530.93, with the broader market underpinned by 418 gainers compared with 463 decliners and 444 counters unchanged.
There were 2.11 billion shares traded on the market for a value of RM1.08bil.
On the blue-chip index, Maybank rose three sen to RM9.43, CelcomDigi gained four sen to RM4.27 and MISC rose 10 sen to RM7.60.
YTL Power retreated nine sne to RM3.84 while YTL Corp slid seven sen to RM2.23.
Top actives were TWL unchanged at 3.5 sen, Hong Seng flat at two sen and Minetec up 0.5 sen to 17.5 sen.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei continued its rally to a fresh 34-year high at 38,801 while South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.2% to 2,644.
China’s mainland markets remained shuttered for the Lunar New Year but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.15% to 16,287.