Bursa Malaysia extends gains in early trade

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended last week's gains to open higher today with buying mostly spotted in bluechips led by CIMB and Hong Leong Bank.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,787.94, up 8.49 points, from Friday's close of 1,779.45.
The key index opened 7.74 points higher at 1,787.19.
CIMB, which is eyeing the China market, rose 12 sen to RM6.80 with 1.29 milliion shares transacted, while Hong Leong Bank increased 46 sen to RM16.00.
The banks contributed 3.548 points to the rise in the composite index.
A dealer said market would remain quiet as most of local investors were on extended Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays.
Nevertheless, strong interest for selected bluechips and other stocks such as Gamuda and Bumi Armada would help support share prices today, the dealer added.
The market breadth was positive this morning as gainers thumped losers 182 to 75 with 184 counters unchanged, 1,371 untraded while 59 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 92.13 million shares worth RM67.67 million.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 52.2 points to 12,700.63, FBM 70 chalked up 60.5 points to 14,995.28, FBMT100 Index advanced 56.46 points to 12,345.86, FBM Ace gained 10.82 points to 6,290.27 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index improved 28.34 points to 12,859.36.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index extended 17.84 points to 3,290.39, the Finance Index surged 135.74 points to 16,979.57 and the Plantation Index added 1.67 points to 7,931.91.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM9.63, Public Bank chalked up eight sen to RM20.46, Sime Darby added two sen to RM9.63 and Petronas Chemicals perked five sen to RM7.20.
TNB, however, was flat at RM14.16.
Of actives, IRIS Corp added one sen to 18 sen, Dagang Nexchange inched up half-a-sen to six sen but Tiger Synergy slipped half-a-sen to six sen.

The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM166.39 per gramme, down RM1.20 from RM167.59 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama