KL shares open higher but sentiment remains tepid

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning but sentiment remained tepid, with trading underpinned by the continued looming uncertainties as global sentiment weakened.
At 9.15am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.80 of-a-point higher at 1,766.14 from yesterday's close of 1,765.34.
Earlier, the index opened 1.08 points better 1,766.42.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 242 to 174 while 251 counters remained unchanged with 1,125 untraded and 42 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 268.16 million shares worth RM126.20 million.
Leading movers in the FBM KLCI component stocks were banking stocks, with CIMB gaining five sen to RM6.31, AMMB bagged 10 sen to RM5.20, Hong Leong Financial Group rose 24 sen to RM16.72 and Hong Leong Bank advanced 12 sen to RM14.08.
tTop-weighted heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM9.38, TNB and Public Bank were both flat at RM13.78 and RM20.06, respectively, while Sime Darby fell three sen to RM9.31.
Of actives, Sumatec and Tiger were both flat at 6 sen and 6.5 sen, respectively, BioAlpha eased 2.5 sen to 22 sen and AirAsia X improved half-a-sen to 40 sen.
Nestle led the list of top gainers, bagging 54 sen for RM82.04, while top loser, Panamy, fell RM1.34 to RM35.00.
The FBM Emas Index was 5.09 points higher at 12,575.99, FBMT 100 Index gained 7.95 points to 12,221.03 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index eased 11.18 points to 12,838.67.
The FBM 70 was up 18.67 points at 14,940.38 but the FBM Ace was 27.13 points lower at 6,192.12.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index climbed 4.26 points to 8,014.46, Finance Index rose 65.21 points to 16,447.89 but the Industrial Index shed 1.57 points to 3,258.79.
Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives opened untraded this morning.
As at 9.30am, spot month May 2017 stood at RM174.1 a gramme and June 2017 stood at RM174.4 a gramme.
July 2017 and August 2017 were pegged at RM174.8 and RM175.3 a gramme, respectively.
Turnover was nil while open interest amounted to 258 contracts.
At 9.30am, physical gold was down 66 sen at RM167.69 per gramme. — Bernama