Bursa Malaysia opens higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning as investor sentiment was boosted following the record gains on Wall Street last Friday.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.98 points firmer at 1,757.98 from last Friday's close of 1,755.00.
The key index opened 4.12 points better at 1,759.12.
Gainers led losers 166 to 54 while 172 counters remained unchanged with 1,391 untraded and 22 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 88.43 million shares worth RM28.72 million.
In a note today, Public Investment Bank Bhd said US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Janet Yellen's cautious comments on policy normalisation had bolstered the US stock market, which saw Bursa Malaysia following suit.
Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) said aside from the less hawkish testimony, investor sentiment was also lifted by a rebound in oil and gas stocks on Wall Street.
"On Bursa Malaysia, the key index may be due for a mild technical rebound this week after falling fourth straight weeks to play catch up with its regional peers.
"Nevertheless, any rebound is likely to be capped near the 1,774 point level due to lack of fresh catalysts, with key support envisaged at 1,740-1,750," HLIB said in a note today.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank, CIMB and IHH Healthcare added two sen each to RM20.38, RM6.36 and RM6.00, respectively, Petronas Chemicals improved three sen to RM6.88s while Maybank and Tenaga remained unchanged at RM9.62 and RM14.20, respectively.
Of actives, Sterling Progress and Managepay gained one sen each to 18 sen and 24.5 sen, respectively, Vivocom and its warrant inched up half-a-sen each to 15 sen and six sen, respectively, while Compugate shed half-a-sen to three sen.
The FBM Emas Index perked 20.49 points to 12,515.17, the FBMT100 Index was 19.56 points better at 12,161.75 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index inched up 16.54 points to 12,691.28.
The FBM 70 advanced 20.03 points to 14,857.28 and the FBM Ace jumped 42.77 points to 6,871.94.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 11.51 points firmer at 7,865.83, the Industrial Index rose 7.29 points to 3,272.06 and the Finance Index leaped 30.10 points to 16,701.75.
Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives opened higher today with one contract month traded.
As at 9.33am, July 2017 was 16 ticks better at RM170.05 a gramme.
August 2017, September 2017 and October 2017 remained at RM169.85, RM170.25 and RM171.10 a gramme, respectively.
Turnover stood at one lot while open interest totalled 228 contracts.
At 9.30am, physical gold was up RM1.26 sen at RM164.19 per gramme. — Bernama