Bursa Malaysia opens marginally higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher on the stronger ringgit coupled with steady oil prices after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to extend supply cut, dealers said.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.98 of a point higher at 1,774.94 from Thursday's close of 1,773.96.
The index opened marginally lower by 0.06 of a point at 1,773.90 at 9am.
Losers led gainers 165 to 154 while 231 counters remained unchanged with 1,232 untraded and 28 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 214.89 million shares worth RM97.49 million.
TA Securities said, the local market was likely to stay buoyant, given the steady oil prices and upbeat global markets, and as investors digest the better-than-expected first quarter earnings from selected blue chip heavyweights.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and and Petronas Chemical added two sen each to RM9.41 and RM7.41 respectively, TNB gained four sen to RM13.86, Sime Darby rose six sen to RM9.36 while Public Bank was flat at RM20.08.
Of actives, Netx Holdings, AirAsia X and PUC Founder improved half-a- sen each to seven sen, 43 sen and 16 sen, respectively, and Lion Industries added seven sen to RM1.15.
The FBM Emas Index was 2.40 points lower at 12,689.75, FBMT 100 Index slid 1.15 points to 12,316.49 and the FBM 70 was down 31.27 points to 15,186.99.
The FBM Ace rose 14.09 points to 6,545.99 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index added 9.30 points to 12,950.27.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was up 13.0 points to 8,073.02, Finance Index rose 25.85 points to 16,527.01 and the Industrial Index increased 3.45 points to 3,286.21.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM166.84 per gramme, down 44 sen from RM167.28 at 5pm. — Bernama