Bursa opens slightly higher in early trade

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher in early trade this morning on buying support in selected blue-chips.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.92 point better at 1,658.34 after opening 0.22 point higher at 1,657.64.
A dealer said positive sentiment brought by Wall Street's higher closing last Friday also partly aided the Bursa's uptrend, despite the weaker oil prices.
Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing decliners 99 to 47 while 149 counters were unchanged, 1,407 untraded and 22 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 82.74 million shares worth RM27.84 million.
The FBM Emas Index rose 9.62 points to 11,620.79, the FBMT 100 Index gained 8.37 points to 11,315.59 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index perked 9.67 points to 12,226.03.
The FBM 70 advanced 17.54 points to 13,233.69 and the FBM Ace rose 12.09 points to 5,452.48.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 20.36 points higher at 14,122, the Plantation Index appreciated 13.46 points to 7,587.96 but the Industrial Index slipped 1.85 points to 3,131.23.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals added two sen each to RM8.05 and RM6.63 respectively, while TNB, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM8.30, RM7.69 and RM6.48 respectively.
Of the active stocks, TH Heavy Engineering added 1.5 sen to 13 sen but EA Holdings was unchanged at seven sen.
BAT was the biggest gainer this morning, up 70 sen to RM55.20, followed by Fraser & Neave which gained 50 sen to RM26.52.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM166.82 per gramme, down 57 sen from RM167.39 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama