KL shares open higher on continued investor confidence
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday's gains to open better this morning on continued investor confidence, dealers said.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) opened 2.58 points higher at 1,759.85 but slipped thereafter. At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.04% or 0.71 of-a-point better at 1,757.98 from Wednesday's close of 1,757.27.
Inter-Pacific Securities Head of Research Pong Teng Siew said the local bourse was expected to be in a positive mood today given the fact that concerns surrounding the market had slowly diminished.
"The European Central Bank's policy announcement, expected later today, coupled with Bank of Japan's release of the minutes of its last meeting, also due today, have been discounted by the market.
"The market is slowly recovering," he told Bernama.
Maybank Kim Eng, in its morning edition of the "Kopi-O", noted that US equities hit a fresh all-time high during trading on Wednesday and that local stocks would likely benefit from the positive spill-over.
"Firmer oil prices was also another reason for the FBM KLCI to nudge higher,"it added.
On the broader market, winners outpaced losers 142 to 57 while 167 counters remained unchanged with 1,462 untraded and 21 others were suspended. Turnover amounted to 88.65 million shares worth RM39.68 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Sime were flat at RM9.64 and RM9.55, respectively, Tenaga rose six sen to RM14.18, PBBank added four sen to RM20.40 while CIMB declined five sen to RM6.37.
Of actives, Bursa added one sen to RM10.10, WangZNG improved seven sen to RM1.47, Magna increased seven sen and its warrant added six sen to 63 sen, Airport advanced seven sen to RM8.87 while Dufu rose five sen to RM1.45.
The FBM Emas Index gained 8.25 points to 12,542.72, the FBM Ace was 14.57 points better at 6,816.31 but the FBMT100 Index was 7.64 points better at 12,183.67.
Meanwhile, the FBM Emas Syariah Index gained 13.36 points to 12,741.71 and the FBM 70 advanced 19.75 points to 14,966.61.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 2.05 points better at 7,874.94 but the Finance Index erased 9.81 points to 16,686.75 and the Industrial Index gained 0.21 of-a-point to 3,269.52.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM165.26 per gramme, down 10 sen from RM165.36 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama