Bursa opens higher on positive sentiment, firmer oil prices

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher, in early trade, today boosted by positive sentiment brought about by the bullish overnight performance on Wall Street, amid firmer oil prices, dealers said.
At 9.07am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 6.45 points higher at 1,785.1 from yesterday's close of 1,778.65.
The index opened 6.38 points better at 1,785.03 at 9 am.
Global oil prices rallied last night with crude-oil prices settling 2.1% stronger while West Texas Intermediate surged 3.11% after Saudi Arabia and Russia said they favoured the extension of oil supply cuts until March next year.
Overall market breadth on Bursa was positive with gainers thumping losers 227 to 84 while 238 counters remained unchanged with 1,212 untraded and 32 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 199.99 million shares worth RM178.12 million.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank chalked up 44 sen to RM20.42, Petronas Chemicals gained five sen to RM7.32 and CIMB added three sen to RM5.97.
Tenaga, however, eased two sen to RM13.98 while both Maybank and Sime Darby slipped one sen each to RM9.37 and RM9.32, respectively.
Of actives, Iskandar Waterfront rose 29 sen to RM2.42, SC Estate added one sen to six sen and IRIS Corp inched up half-a-sen to 20.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index appreciated 38.76 points to 12,785.95, the FBMT 100 Index increased 36.94 points to 12,412.28 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index improved 24.08 points to 13,123.15.
The FBM 70 gained 16.1 points to 15,399.89 and the FBM Ace garnered 30.17 points to 6,520.73.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 2.06 points higher at 8,108.8, the Industrial Index improved 21.13 points to 3,283.15 and the Finance Index surged 77.28 points to 16,485.02.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM165.45 per gramme, down 23 sen from RM165.68 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama