BURSA MALAYSIA: KL Shares Higher At Midday

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 (Bernama) -- Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher led by gains on banking stocks on expectation of better assets management in the longer term due to the consolidation in the banking industry, said dealers.

"Overall sentiment was also strong aided by Wall Street's overnight rise despite global concerns on inflationary pressures," a dealer said.

The benchmark Composite Index rose 8.65 points to 903.31, just above its immediate resistance level of 900 points. It opened 0.13 of a point higher at 894.79.

The All Main Board Emas Index added 1.86 points to 209.22 and the Second Board Index rose 0.63 of a point to 93.11.

The Industrial Index went up 14.26 points to 1,842.97 while the Finance Index gained 75.38 points to 7,350.66.

Gainers led losers by 475 to 156, 238 counters were traded unchanged, 453 counters untraded and 34 others suspended.

Turnover improved to 471.427 million shares worth RM528.199 million from 291.836 million shares worth RM326.866 million at midday yesterday.

Iris was the most active counter, adding 26.5 sen to RM1.14 with 794,558 lots changing hands. It gained interest after Bursa Malaysia withdrew the designated securities status of the stock.

It was then followed by Poly Tower that added 8.5 sen to 97 sen, KBES rose 2.5 sen to 50.5 sen, OILCorp topped up seven sen to RM1.46 and SatangJaya inched up four sen to RM1.87.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added 20 sen to RM10.60, Tenaga Nasional rose five sen to RM9.10, Telekom Malaysia went up five sen to RM9.05, while MISC and Maxis added 10 sen each to RM7.40 and RM8.65, respectively.

Among bluechips, Genting rose 50 sen to RM23.80, IOI Corp gained 10 sen to RM13.60 and Tanjong went up 30 sen to RM13.40.

-- BERNAMA