Bursa Malaysia opens lower but rebounds thereafter
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia kicked-off trading in the red but rebounded marginally thereafter, a dealer said.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,755.01 points, up 0.09 of-a-point or 0.005 per cent from Tuesday's close of 1,754.92 after opening 1.18 points easier at 1,753.74.
Public Bank Investment Bank Bhd said the FBM KLCI could trade within a tight range today after the mixed performance of global equities overnight.
“Renewed dollar weakness provided the main talking point in the US as the failure of Republicans to push through healthcare reforms drived the dollar to a 10-month low against a basket of peers,” it said in a note.
Meanwhile, Maybank Kim Eng, in its morning edition “Kopi-O”, noted that firmer oil price and a stronger ringgit could lend support to the local bourse but sentiment could remain lacklustre amid external uncertainties.
Yesterday, the benchmark Brent crude settled 42 cents higher at US$48.84 a barrel.
Overall, gainers led losers 124 to 72 while 183 counters remained unchanged with 1,424 untraded and 21 others were suspended.
Trading was active with turnover amounting to 100.4 million shares worth RM64.87 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM9.61, PBBank and PChem added two sen each to RM20.38 and RM6.93, respectively. Tenaga was flat at RM14.16 and Sime reduced three sen to RM9.52.
Of actives, IWCity increased 13 sen to RM1.67, Ekovest advanced six sen to RM1.23 while its warrant added 5.5 sen to 90 sen and KeyAsic perked one sen to 15 sen.
The FBM Emas Index gained 1.33 points to 12,518.87, the FBM Ace was 1.61 points better at 6,824.36 but the FBMT100 Index was 0.02 of-a-point easier at 12,158.09, the FBM Emas Syariah Index fell 2.36 points to 12,707.67 and the FBM 70 shed 2.39 points to 14,916.32.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 4.53 points better at 7,868.86 and the Finance Index rose 15.54 points to 16,674.5 but the Industrial Index erased 9.74 points to 3,257.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM165.42 per gramme, up 45 sen from RM164.97 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama