Bursa Malaysia opens marginally higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher today, supported by some mild buying in selected heavyweights, a dealer said.
At 9.01am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.45 of-a-point higher at 1,772.07 from yesterday's close of 1,771.62.
The benchmark index opened 0.15 of-a-point better at 1,771.47.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 82 to 46 with 150 counters unchanged, 1,563 untraded and 43 others were suspended.
The market is expected to recover slowly as buyers emerge late to pick up local stocks, against the backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty.
"All eyes will be on finance-related stocks, especially RHB Bank Bhd and AMMB Holdings Bhd, which requested for trading suspension on Bursa Malaysia from 9am to 5pm, pending a material announcement," the dealer said.
The banks announced that all structure warrants related to RHB Bank and AMMB would also be suspended at the same time to allow for both companies to commence negotiations for a possible merger of their businesses and undertakings, after obtaining Bank Negara Malaysia approval on June 1, 2017.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM9.63, Sime Darby added four sen to RM9.30, Tenaga eased two sen to RM14.20 and Public Bank was six sen higher at RM20.52.
Among actives, JAG and Dutaland inched up half-a-sen each to 15 sen and 53 sen, respectively, Dagang Nexchange was flat at 50 sen but Evergreen Fibreboard was down five sen at 77 sen.
The FBM Emas Index rose 9.15 points to 12,604.44, FBM Emas Syariah Index eased 2.79 points to 12,746.68, FBMT 100 Index added 5.14 points to 12,257.64, the FBM Ace increased 9.41 points to 6,566.29 and FBM 70 was 13.87 points higher at 14,968.28.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index improved 28.27 points to 16,768.10, the Industrial Index added 6.58 points to 3,227.23 while the Plantation Index gained 3.94 points to 7,808.93.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM171.57 per gramme, down nine sen from RM171.66 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama