Bursa Malaysia opens higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher today tracking the better Asian markets' performances which took the cue from the firmer overnight Wall Street close, dealers said.
At 9.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 0.15 of a point to 1,761.28 from Wednesday's close of 1,757.21.
The index opened 3.11 points higher at 1,761.12.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers by 169 to 52, with 169 counters unchanged, 1,470 untraded and 35 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 132.65 million shares worth RM43.17 million.
A dealer said major Asian equities markets continued their strong performances after the Federal Reserve (Fed) minutes were seen as dovish with a strong degree of caution at the Fed over the timing of future interest-rate increase.
In a note today, Maybank IB Research said, the FBM KLCI fell for the second day yesterday amid profit-taking on selected blue-chips.
"However, there is a glimpse of hope that FBM KLCI may rebound today, buoyed by strong US markets overnight. Oil and gas stocks could also benefit from a firmer oil price.
"Technically, we expect FBM KLCI to trade between 1,751 and 1,770. The downside support are 1,751 and 1,744," it said.
Of the heavyweights, Sime Darby rose five sen to RM9.14 and Petronas Chemicals gained two sen to RM7.34.
Maybank eased one sen to RM9.54 and TNB fell eight sen to RM14.12.
Public Bank was flat at RM20.56.
Among active counters, Pemaju Industries bagged 5.5 sen to 41 sen, Key Asic gained two sen to 29 sen, Hubline and M3 Technologies both edged up half-a-sen each to 15.5 sen respectively and Sanbumi added 2.5 sen to 26 sen.
The FBM Emas Index added 11.32 points to 12,589.83, FBMT 100 Index gained 8.13 points to 12,233.71, FBM Emas Syariah Index increased 15.0 points to 12,880.80, the FBM Ace rose 26.23 points to 6,824.82 and FBM 70 bagged 8.22 points to 15,203.78.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index expanded 30.88 points to 7,969.01 and the Industrial Index inched up 16.14 points to 3,239.41 as the Finance Index was 3.81 points better at 16,532.38.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM169.48 per gramme, up 31 sen from RM169.17 at 5.00pm yesterday. — Bernama