KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 14): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session on a positive note, mirroring regional markets' performance, as bargain-hunting activities emerged following the recent sell-off, a dealer said.

At 12.30pm on Friday (Oct 14), the benchmark FBM KLCI had jumped by 15.28 points to 1,388.64, from Thursday's close at 1,373.36.

The barometer index opened 8.27 points higher at 1,381.63.

On the broader market, gainers trumped decliners 460 to 263, while 344 counters were unchanged, 1,279 untraded, and 19 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.21 billion units worth RM761.94 million.

ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities were positive on Friday, pulling back from the selling that was triggered by hotter-than-expected US consumer price index data.

“For the session ahead, traders will be eyeing the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank speakers, as well as the UK fiscal theme, as the Bank of England's buy-back programme comes to an end," he told Bernama.

On the home front, heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) stood at RM8.50 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd at RM5.33 after earning three sen each, Public Bank Bhd gained five sen to RM4.22, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd climbed 12 sen to RM8.57, and IHH Healthcare Bhd added 10 sen to RM5.70.

Of the actives, Top Glove Corp Bhd rose by one sen to 70 sen, MyEG Services Bhd advanced five sen to 84 sen, Hiap Huat Holdings Bhd added 1.5 sen to 16.5 sen, and Citaglobal Bhd added one sen to 28 sen, while Vinvest Capital Holdings Bhd fell half a sen to 19.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index perked 99.49 points to 9,898.10, the FBM 70 climbed 99.37 points to 11,940.51, the FBMT 100 Index improved 100.07 points to 9,647.05, the FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened 122.26 points to 9,889.80, and the FBM ACE earned 41.75 points to 4,659.40.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 89.45 points higher at 15,952.77, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 1.82 points to 170.33, the Plantation Index added 83.09 points to 6,431.11, and the Energy Index improved by 6.18 points to 674.13.