KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 11): The FBM KLCI settled up 30.16 points or 1.82% at 1,684.55 before the afternoon break on Bursa Malaysia today as news of progress of Covid-19 vaccines spurred global economic recovery bets among investors.

Across Bursa at 12.30pm, 6.04 billion securities had been traded for RM3.31 billion.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd analysts wrote in a note today the research firm had introduced its year-end 2021 target for the KLCI of 1,730 points.

"Without much catalysts for the market, we expect the KLCI to trade within a tight trading band. With that, based on our KLCI EPS (earnings per share) growth of -0.9% for 2022E (estimated) and the past five-year mean PER (price-earnings ratio) of 18.6 times, we introduce our year-end 2021 target for the KLCI of 1,730. 

"We add Tenaga [Nasional Bhd] (TNB) and MTAG [Group Bhd] to our top 'buys' for 2021 and remove Dialog [Group Bhd] and Top Glove [Corp Bhd],” they said.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that Bursa ended the morning session on a strong note as banking heavyweights continued their gains.

Amid a mixed regional trend, the KLCI was moving between 1,660.49 and 1,689.77 throughout the morning trading session.

Banking counters Public Bank Bhd soared RM1.90 to RM22.10, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) bagged 44 sen to RM8.82, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd gained 13 sen to RM4.41, Hong Leong Bank Bhd went up 60 sen to RM19.50, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd advanced 68 sen to RM18.68 and RHB Bank Bhd increased 10 sen to RM5.95.

Hefty gains by banking heavyweights helped push the Financial Services Index stronger by 773.67 points to 16,092.71.

On the broader market, gainers and losers were almost equal at 594 versus 597, while 500 counters were unchanged, 2,137 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) increased 20 sen to RM7.86, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) fell eight sen to RM10.42, Top Glove Corp Bhd shed five sen to RM6.94 and Hartalega Holdings Bhd lost 38 sen to RM13.98.

Among the actives, Bumi Armada Bhd perked three sen to 39 sen, Sino Hua-An International Bhd trimmed 1.5 sen to 13.5 sen, Sapura Energy Bhd added one sen to 13.5 sen, Nexgram Holdings Bhd inched up half a sen to 5.5 sen and Iris Corp Bhd gained two sen to 38.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 167.93 points higher at 12,090.8, the FBMT 100 Index soared 169.99 points to 11,852.9, the FBM 70 increased 54.77 points to 15,392.6 and the FBM ACE chalked up 80.18 points to 11,120.09. 

The FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 46.47 points to 13,434.52.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.84 of a point to 177.22 and the Plantation Index advanced 21.7 points to 7,376.71.